Australian Paralympic Committee Media Releases on Newsboosthttp://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympicRecent media releases for Australian Paralympic Committee - Australian Paralympic Committee on NewsboostFri, 18 Aug 2017 14:44:34 +1000paralympic795http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/795Roller and Spinners coverage on Canberra<p style="margin: 12pt 0cm; line-height: 12.05pt; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black">A total of 28 players will be in camp at the Basketball Australia National Centre of Excellence &ndash; the biggest camp the men&rsquo;s wheelchair basketball program has ever conducted.<br />
<br />
The reigning World Champion Rollers begin their preparations to defend the title ahead of the 2013 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships in November &ndash; the qualifying event for the 2014 IWBF World Championships.<br />
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For the Spinners, the focus is narrowing as they move closer to the 2013 IWBF Under 23 Men&rsquo;s World Championships in Turkey next month, with this the final camp before the squad is trimmed to the final 12.<br />
<br />
The camp will feature a host of established stars and emerging talent, including eight players from the Rollers team that claimed silver at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.<br />
<br />
Rollers Head Coach Ben Ettridge said with a busy international calendar ahead of the Rollers and Spinners the camp will act as a launching pad for the exciting months ahead.<br />
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&ldquo;From the men&rsquo;s wheelchair basketball program perspective this is the biggest camp we&rsquo;ve ever hosted, with 28 of our top 30 athletes together for six days,&rdquo; Ettridge said.<br />
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&ldquo;From the Rollers perspective this camp gives us an excellent platform to launch into our international schedule of the next three months leading into the IWBF Asia Oceania Championships in November.<br />
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&ldquo;The camp will play a major role in the formation our Spinners team ahead of the IWBF Under 23 World Championships, with Head Coach Tom Kyle using the camp to finalise his squad for the tournament in Turkey next month.&rdquo;<br />
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The Rollers and Spinners camp runs from Tuesday 6 August through to Sunday 11 August.<br />
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The 2013 IWBF Under 23 Men&rsquo;s World Championships take place in Turkey from 12-22 September, while the 2013 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships take place in Bangkok, Thailand from 20-30 November.<br />
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<strong>Australian Spinners Training Camp &ndash; Canberra, August 2013</strong><br />
<br />
Michael Auprince NSW<br />
Jannik Blair* VIC<br />
Jordan Bartley QLD<br />
Marcus Chiavelli VIC<br />
Bailey Rowland QLD<br />
Kayl Jeffery WA<br />
Luke Pople NSW<br />
Tim Markcrow ACT<br />
Tom O&rsquo;Neill-Thorne NT<br />
Bradley Fisher TAS<br />
Clarence Grogan NT<br />
Ryan Morich WA<br />
Colin Smith NSW<br />
Jake Kavanagh WA<br />
<br />
<strong>Australian Rollers Training Camp &ndash; Canberra, August 2013</strong><br />
<br />
Dylan Alcott* VIC<br />
Michael D&rsquo;Amelio VIC<br />
Nick Radovich WA<br />
Adam Deans WA<br />
Bradley Ness* WA<br />
Samuel White SA<br />
Nick Taylor* NSW<br />
Kim Robins WA<br />
Bill Latham* NSW<br />
Michael Hartnett* WA<br />
Andrew Liddawi WA<br />
Shaun Norris* WA<br />
Shawn Russell NSW<br />
Justin Eveson* WA<br />
* Members of the 2012 London Paralympic Games team<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12pt 0cm; line-height: 12.05pt; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><strong><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black">By Basketball Australia</span></strong><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:
&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
2013-08-05T00:00:00+10:00794http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/794Aust's first Para-equestrian classifier appointed<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">As part of this role Sharyn will head-up a new four member panel which has been assembled by the FEI to undertake the ongoing development of Para-Equestrian classification. Her role will require her to chair the panel and be the lead contact for the FEI Para-Equestrian Committee as well as for the International Paralympic Committee.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;This is an exciting time for Para-Equestrian sport as it continues to grow and develop internationally. I am both honoured and proud to be offered the opportunity to lead the Classification Panel and looking forward to working with the FEI and panel members to further develop classification within the sport.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;I never anticipated that my determined belief in inclusion for people living with an impairment, my career as a physiotherapist and my love of horses would come together in such a way,&rdquo; she said.<br />
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There are only 27 FEI International Para-Equestrian Classifiers worldwide and Sharyn is Australia&rsquo;s sole FEI Classifier. The New South Wales based physiotherapist became a national classifier in 1998 and an international classifier in 2000 under the previous International Paralympic Equestrian Committee (IPEC) which transitioned to the FEI after 2006.<br />
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Sharyn explains the role that she will play as FEI Head Classifier:<br />
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&ldquo;The role of Head of Classification is to primarily provide the link between the Classification panel and the FEI Para-Equestrian Committee. In addition, the Head of Classification works with the IPC to ensure a robust system that adheres to the IPC Classification Code. As Chair of the Classification panel I will provide leadership in determining the vision for Para-Equestrian classification across dressage, carriage driving and show jumping as an emerging discipline. The scope of the panel will include confirming a clear education and development pathway for Para-Equestrian classifiers, working to build a strong evidence base for our classification system through research, ensuring a systematic, transparent and consistent approach to classification of athletes and where required their preparation, in terms of classification, for the Paralympic Games.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Australia won it&#39;s first gold medal in Para-equestrian since Sydney 2000 with Joann Formosa winning the individual championship at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.</p>
2013-08-02T00:00:00+10:00791http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/791More medals on final day of track and field<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Competing in his fourth event of the Championships, and delivering his fourth medal, McCracken&rsquo;s 53.71 saw him narrowly defeated for the gold medal by Walid Ktila (TUN, first, 53.61) in the closing stages of the men&rsquo;s T34 wheelchair 400m for athletes with cerebral palsy.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
His performance ensures the 16-year-old will deliver three silver and one bronze medal to the Australian medal tally, a formidable performance for someone on only his second Australian team after winning a silver and bronze medal on debut at the London&nbsp;2012 Paralympic Games last year.<br />
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&ldquo;Absolutely stoked with how I have gone here. Four medals, three silver and a bronze, I couldn&rsquo;t be happier,&rdquo; McCracken said.<br />
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&ldquo;I thought the race was mine coming around the bend there but the weather was just insane, the wind was something that got me in the closing stage. That&rsquo;s racing though, that&rsquo;s how it goes. So close to gold but it doesn&rsquo;t matter, I have closed my campaign with a silver medal.&rdquo;<br />
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Ballard&rsquo;s time of 57.00 in the women&rsquo;s T53 wheelchair 400m ensured a fourth medal from as many starts at these IPC Athletics World Championships after enjoying silver medal success in the 100m, 200m and 800m earlier in the program.<br />
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Edged out for the top spot today by Hongzhuan Zhou (CHN, first, 56.76, CR) and Shirley Reilly (USA, second, 56.98, SB), the four-time Paralympian is thrilled by her results in Lyon and feels as though she is rolling as well as she ever has.<br />
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&ldquo;To be on the podium for every event here has been awesome. I was really worried coming out to compete today, the wind is so strong and it is a little bit scary to know that your chair can go a lot faster than you can manage to take it yourself. You have to negotiate a bend with that in mind so I am happy that I got around safely and won bronze,&rdquo; Ballard said.<br />
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&ldquo;I am pushing the best I have in years so there is no sign of stopping yet. There&rsquo;s no need when I am training well and if this week is something to go by performing well.&rdquo;<br />
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The youngest ever member of an Australian team, 14-year-old Salmon won her bronze medal behind Oxana Corso (ITA, first, 33.42) and Virginia McLachlan (CAN, second, 34.03) in the T35 cerebral palsy 200m.<br />
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Joined on the start line by Erinn Walters (ACT), who placed 7th in a time of 35.91, Salmon improved on her 5th place in the 100m by clocking an Oceania record and personal best time of 34.92 to win her first ever major championship medal on debut here in Lyon.<br />
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&ldquo;I just tried to stick to my race plan and make it to the end as quick as I could. I am really happy with third. This whole trip has been the most amazing experience, the team is such a super group of people. I think today is one of the best days of my life for sure,&rdquo; Salmon said.<br />
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Salmon will also enjoy the perks of a full-time slave for the remainder of the team&rsquo;s stay in Lyon, after she made a deal with Team Coach Tim Matthews that he would become her personal employee should she cross line in a time quicker than 35 seconds.<br />
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&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big bonus. After crossing and seeing the time, the first thing I thought was that Tim was mine for the rest of the trip and not that I had won bronze. He better be ready to work,&rdquo; Salmon joked.<br />
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In a very disappointing result, the men&rsquo;s T53-54 wheelchair 4x400m relay team missed a certain medal when on the third leg Matt Cameron (Qld) fell in his racing chair to prevent Australia from finishing. Gutsy to the end, Cameron, who had severe lacerations up his arm, was offered a standing ovation by the full grandstand as he made his way back to the post-event control area.<br />
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In the final event of the Championships, South Australian Nathan Arkley finished ninth in the men&#39;s T54 marathon, with fellow Australian Richard Colman finishing in 13th place.</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Australia finished the championships 15th on the medal tally with four gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze.</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>Full breakdown of Australian medallists:</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>GOLD</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Evan O&#39;Hanlon - T38 100m, 200m, 400m<br />
Scott Reardon - T42 100m</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>SILVER</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Rosemary Little - T34 200m<br />
Brad Scott - T37 800m<br />
Angela Ballard - T53 100m, 200m, 800m<br />
Rheed McCracken - T34 100m, 200m, 400m<br />
Scott Reardon - T42 200m<br />
Carlee Beattie - F46 long jump<br />
Gabriel Cole - T46 100m</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>BRONZE</strong></p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Michael Roeger - T46 1500m, 5000m<br />
Richard Colman - T53 400m, 5000m<br />
Guy Henly - F37/38 discus<br />
Kath Proudfoot - F35/36 shot put, discus<br />
Todd Hodgetts - F20 shot put<br />
Rosemary Little - T34 100m<br />
Jayden Sawyer - F37/38 javelin<br />
Madison de Rozario - T54 800m<br />
Deon Kenzie - T38 1500m<br />
Rheed McCracken - T34 800m<br />
Carly Salmon - T35 200m<br />
Angela Ballard - T53 400m<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>By Athletics Australia</strong></p>
2013-07-29T00:00:00+10:00793http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/793Kellerman joins the big league<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">The 23-year-old from Sydney was full of confidence heading into his first semi-final at an ITF 1 Series tournament, having played the game of his career in the quarter-final to defeat world number 10 player Frenchman Frederic Cattaneo.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">But Argentina&rsquo;s Gustavo made light work of Kellerman as the 2012 runner up powered through the semi 6-3, 6-4 to progress to the final and his eventual tournament victory.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Despite the loss, the tournament was a big step forward for Kellerman, who is now ranked 23 in the world and is one of Australia&rsquo;s brightest prospects for international wheelchair tennis success in the future.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">&ldquo;Despite losing I was very happy with how I played,&rdquo; said Kellerman.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">&ldquo;The last couple of days have been the closest I have felt to how I was playing in the London Paralympics. I&#39;ve been working hard to get back there and now that I am, I can build on that and take it further.&rdquo;</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Kellerman will next play at the Salzburg Open from 31 July &ndash; 4 August.</span></p>
2013-07-29T00:00:00+10:00792http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/792Reardon & O'Hanlon World Champions<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Ensuring a clean sweep of victories from three starts in Lyon, Evan O&rsquo;Hanlon (NSW) was the first to taste success in the men&rsquo;s T38 cerebral palsy 400m, before his training partner Scott Reardon (NSW) crossed in a dead heat in the men&rsquo;s T42 leg amputee 100m to be deemed equal winner with Heinrich Popow (GER).<br />
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Competing in Lyon (FRA) only weeks after being hospitalised with viral meningitis, the five-time Paralympic champion O&rsquo;Hanlon eradicated the stagger on the back straight to make light work of his rivals and enter the straight a clear leader, beforepushing to the line to cross in 50.55.<br />
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O&rsquo;Hanlon is coached by Iryna Dvoskina, with his victory today now sitting alongside his equally impressive 10.93 run to take out the 100m and his time of 21.95 when winning the 200m.<br />
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&ldquo;It is the result I wanted I suppose. It&rsquo;s great to have three gold medals and to know that I can compete like this after such a hampered build-up. Of course I would have liked to run a bit quicker, but realistically that would have been asking too much of myself in such a short time since hospital and I am proud that I have been able to perform as I have,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Hanlon said.<br />
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&ldquo;It has been a long week. I have had one race after the other, and coming into today I thought I would really struggle to get around. It hasn&rsquo;t been as comfortable as I would like it to be and I think that makes the medals all the more rewarding.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Today with the wind I knew the back straight would be easy with a pretty nice tailwind, but then coming home the conditions would be very hard so I didn&rsquo;t expend myself too much in the first 200m, just enough to make up the stagger, and then had enough in the tank to come home.&rdquo;<br />
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Born and raised in Sydney, O&rsquo;Hanlon, who has cerebral palsy as a consequence of a prenatal stroke, has spent much of his athletics career on scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport. A two-time Paralympian, he has now won sevenworld titles and a further three medals from three appearances at the IPC Athletics World Championships.<br />
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Tim Sullivan (Vic) was also a finalist in the men&rsquo;s T38 cerebral palsy 400m today, with the ten-time Paralympic gold medallist clocking a season best time of 54.41 to place 5th overall.<br />
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Dubbed the best head-to-head race of the championship, the showdown between Reardon and Popow exceeded expectations.&nbsp;<br />
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Coming out of lane five and six, Reardon took an early lead before Popow surged at the line to see the duo cross neck-and-neck. Forced to endure the seemingly lifetime long wait on track, Reardon was left wanting after his time of 12.68 (w: -2.2) was deemed equal to that of Popow but in the photo the German had the smallest of leads. At the request of Australian Team Management the decision was reviewed, however, with the Photo Finish Judge adjusting his decision to see both Reardon and Popow awarded gold and the event declared a tie.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;0.03 seconds separated Heinrich and I coming into this championship in terms of personal best, and today we can&rsquo;t even be split. The last three races we have been in we have been separated by a total of 0.05 seconds highlighting how good this rivalry is,&rdquo; Reardon said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I could feel him coming, and with about 20 metres to go a little bit of air came into my leg and I probably let it go to my head a bit. It&rsquo;s one thing to run quick, but another to capitalise on an opportunity and that&rsquo;s what Heinrich did. It&rsquo;s a credit to him for bringing us this close.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Ever the humble athlete, Reardon also took time to offer his congratulations to O&rsquo;Hanlon.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I have to give my training partner a shout out too. I have learnt a lot of him in the past four years and his success here is a testament to his work and he has taken his T38 class above and beyond what it has ever been. Hopefully the two of us can do something similar in this T42 class in the future,&rdquo; Reardon added.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Acknowledging how much of a fantastic opponent Reardon is, Popow admitted that to stay on top he has work to do.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I always said that I am the old man of this race, and as the young guy he is pushing me every step of the way. Since the Paralympic Games I have said to my coach and the team behind me that he is coming, that he has an amazing running technique and that he will more than likely beat me here in Lyon,&rdquo; Popow said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;If he keeps running like this then I need to train harder than I ever have to stay in front of him because at the rate of his improvement, considering he has only been in the sport for four years, he will be beat me more often than not soon&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Reardon has been competing in athletics for four years after losing his leg in a farming accident as a teenager. He is based in Canberra, and originally comes from country New South Wales.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The Australian Flame&rsquo;s only finalist in the morning session on Day 7 was three-time Paralympian Louise Ellery (ACT), with the 36-year-old improving on her disappointing 14th place in the club throw to finish 6th in the women&rsquo;s F32/33/34 shot put.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Initially frustrated with her campaign at these IPC Athletics World Championships, Ellery realises that surgery post-London 2012 prevented a complete preparation and that she will in time be back on top, just as she was when she won silver at last year&rsquo;s Paralympic Games.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t happy with the performance at first, but considering injuries in the build-up and very hotconditions I am starting to appreciate how I went. To make it through to final had me stoked,&rdquo; Ellery said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not yet committed to Rio, I want to know that I can be back at the top of my event before I decide. I jokingly like to think that I am just giving the others a chance to win, but I think long term I will be able to regain the form I have had in the past and challenge again.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Ellery won the gold medal in the secured, or seated, shot put at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, and she has this advice for those seeking selection to compete as part of the para-athletics program in Glasgow (SCO) next year.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;You just have to do your best at every championship you attend. I believe in setting yourself a target above what is likely, strive for it as best you can, and then if your realistic aim happens it is not a bad result. Better to make a final and miss the medal you targeted than to not make a final at all because your goals were too low,&rdquo; Ellery added.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Ellery competes in combined class throwing events, but she is defined as an F32 class after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 1998. An Australian representative at three Paralympic Games and the last two IPC Athletics World Championships, she is the Oceania and Australian record holder for both the F32 shot put and the F32 discus throw.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In other results on Day 7 of the IPC Athletics World Championships:<br />
- Missing a bronze medal by just 0.02 seconds, Richard Colman (Vic) clocked 3:09.66 to finish fourth in the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 1500m. His program continues with the marathon on Sunday.<br />
- Closing out his track campaign, dual Paralympic silver medallist ran a personal best of 54.37 to place 5th in the men&rsquo;s T37 cerebral palsy 400m. Scott&rsquo;s start in the event is his first since the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch (NZL) two years ago and sits alongside the silver he won behind Michael McKillop (IRL) in the 800m on Monday.<br />
- Surging from the line in the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 100m final, Sam Carter (Qld) and Matthew Cameron (Qld) finished 5th and 7th in times of 15.07 (w: -1.6) and 15.16 respectively. They will both now prepare to travel to London (GBR) for the para-athletics program to be held as part of the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Anniversary Games this Sunday.<br />
- Australian Flame debutant Nicole Harris (NSW), who is coached by Karyne Di Marco and Breanne Clement, placed 6th in the final of the women&rsquo;s F20 shot put for athletes with intellectual disabilities. The Sydney-sider threw a best mark of 10.63m, with her series also including a throw of 10.37m and four fouls.<br />
- Carly Salmon (NSW) and Erinn Walters (ACT) both competed in semi-finals of the women&rsquo;s T35 cerebral palsy 100m, with the duo clocking 35.87 (w: -3.8) and 37.00 (w: -3.2) respectively to progress to the final tomorrow.<br />
- The winner of three silver medals at these IPC Athletics World Championships, Angela Ballard (NSW) has advanced to the round of eight for the women&rsquo;s T53 wheelchair 400m, her favourite and last scheduled event, after she crossed the line second in 58.89 in her semi-final.<br />
- Rheed McCracken (Qld) will compete in the T34 wheelchair 400m final for athletes with cerebral palsy after he won his semi-final in a time of 53.35.</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>By Athletics Australia</strong></p>
2013-07-27T00:00:00+10:00790http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/790Silver lining for Ballard<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Continuing what has been a very impressive week for the three-time Paralympian, Ballard&rsquo;s effort for second adds a third medal to her Lyon 2013 campaign after also winning silver in both the 200m and 800m.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Excitingly for the Sydney-sider, it also means that she can now focus on her favourite event, the 400m, after crossing the line today in 17.64 behind Lisha Huang (CHN, first, 17.09).<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I went quicker yesterday in the heats and I wanted to improve on that today in the final, so from that perspective the result isn&rsquo;t fantastic. That said I have a silver medal for my efforts and that&rsquo;s not a result worth ignoring,&rdquo; Ballard said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m probably more excited about now being able to focus on the 400m. It&rsquo;s without doubt my favourite event and I have been sort of preparing for it all week by making sure my rest is constant and my recoveries are good. It&rsquo;s going to be a great end to my championships and hopefully I can give it a really good crack.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with my results so far, and so is my coach which is always good. I have some things I need to do to take my performances from silver to gold long term but to have three medals now, and hopefully another one from the 400m is just fantastic.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Roeger&rsquo;s bronze medal was won in the men&rsquo;s T46 arm amputee 1500m in a time of 4:06.74, with the Canberra-based South Australian adding a second medal to his IPC Athletics World Championships tally after crossing third in the 5000m as the first Australian on the track on Day 1 of competition.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;The first lap was really slow, but my coach and I decided to sit in the pack this time rather than lead like I did in the 5000m. It was about biding my time and remaining calm, then trying to make a move later in the race. With about 600m to go I took it on going to the front, then even when the Algerian, who is a great athlete, came past me I thought I would be able to chase him down after his busy program but it wasn&rsquo;t to be. He was a bit strong in the sprint,&rdquo; Roeger said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The two medals that Roeger has won here are the first of his career and will spur him on to bigger and better things at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha (QAT) and the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I am so happy with this campaign, two major championship medals. This has been seven years in the making and it makes me real emotional to think of all the hard work I have put in and all the help I have had to get here from people like Athletics Australia, the APC and the AIS, and obviously my coaches over the journey. It&rsquo;s been an amazing week that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; Roeger added.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The two-time Paralympian Proudfoot added another third place to the one she delivered in the shot put just days ago when she threw 24.91m on her third attempt in the F35/36 javelin throw for athletes with cerebral palsy. Opening her account with a 23.42m hurl, Proudfoot, who is coached by Aaron Holt, continued with 23.25m, her best throw, 24.61m, a foul and 24.41m to close. Mariia Pomazan (UKR) won the gold medal with a world record throw of 31.42m.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
McCracken, meanwhile, crossed in a time of 1:53.15 behind Walid Ktila (TUN, first, 1:51.25) and Mohammed Hammadi (IRQ, second, 1:51.91) to place third in the T34 wheelchair 800m for athletes with cerebral palsy. McCracken&rsquo;s performance adds a third medal from three events to his 2013 IPC Athetics World Championships resume, with competition in the 400m to come before competition concludes this weekend.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In other results, Ian Speed (Vic), who competes with guide runner Dennis Fitzgerald, finished 5th in a time of 4:17.92 in the final of the T12 visually impaired 1500m, Madison de Rozario (WA) clocked 3:35.60 to finish 7th in a very tactical women&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 1500m final and Chad Perris (WA) ran a personal best of 11.17 in the men&rsquo;s T13 visually impaired 100m final to finish 5th.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Perris, who has albinism, couldn&rsquo;t be happier with his performance. Competing at his first major international championships only twelve months after beginning to train seriously for sprint events, he now has confidence in his ability to continue in the sport through to the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy with that, a PB to finish off my first Australian campaign. I didn&rsquo;t think I would get the chance to represent Australia at anything so it is a dream to be here and hopefully that continues. The end goal for me is Rio, but there are stepping stones to get there like the next IPC Worlds, and now that is all part of the plan,&rdquo; Perris said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In results from the morning session on Day 6 of the IPC Athletics World Championships:<br />
- Brad Scott (WA), who won a silver medal in the T37 cerebral palsy 800m, cruised up the straight to win his semi-final of the 400m in a time of 56.62, more than two seconds clear of Sofiane Hamdi (ALG, second, 58.91). He will compete in the final tomorrow.<br />
- One of the favourites for the title, Scott Reardon (NSW) exerted little effort in winning his semi-final of the men&rsquo;s T42 leg amputee 100m. He crossed in a time of 12.46, more than 0.4 outside his personal best of 12.14.<br />
- Sam Carter (Qld) and Matt Cameron (Qld) advanced to the round of eight in the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 800m, finishing 3rd (semi-final one) and 2nd (semi-final two) in times of 14.39 and 14.59 respectively.<br />
<br />
For more information on the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, including athlete profiles and links to liveresults, please follow this link to the sub-site for the event at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/athletics.com.au" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81);">athletics.com.au</a>.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
ParalympicSport.TV is live streaming the Championships online. Please&nbsp;<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/ParalympicSport.TV" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81);">click here to watch</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>By Athletics Australia</strong></p>
2013-07-26T00:00:00+10:00789http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/789Gold number two for O'Hanlon<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;">Providing the most spectacular highlight of the afternoon for the Australian team, O&rsquo;Hanlon&rsquo;s medal was one of an outstanding five won this evening session, as Gabriel Cole (SA, silver), Rheed McCracken (Qld, silver), Deon Kenzie (Tas, bronze) and Richard Colman (Vic, bronze) also earned their chance to stand on the podium at Parc de Parilly.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
O&rsquo;Hanlon is the fastest ever athlete with cerebral palsy and the current world record holder for the T38 100m and 200m, and his performance today highlighted why those accolades are not yet in jeopardy. A clear leader from the outset, the 26-year-old ran strong around the bend and into the straight before breaking away in the closing stages to cross in a championship record time of 21.95, which was 0.95 seconds in front of his nearest rivals Dyan Buis (RSA, second, 22.85) and Lee Whiteley (GBR, this, 23.00).<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Being a perfectionist I would have hoped for a bit of a faster time, but given the preparation I have had with some time in hospital four weeks ago I am very proud. It&rsquo;s great to have so many athletes around me starting to push me to the line, that&rsquo;s why I am so exhausted right now, and that&rsquo;s a sign that our sport is on the up which is a great thing,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Hanlon said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
O&rsquo;Hanlon has now won both the men&rsquo;s T38 100m and 200m at the Beijing&nbsp;2008 Paralympic Games, the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships, the London 2012 Paralympic Games and here in Lyon. Astoundingly, in six of the eight finals he has broken the world record.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Determined to continue to improve, highlighted by his decision to add the one-lap event to his program here in Lyon, O&rsquo;Hanlon is as motivated as ever under the guidance of his long-time coach Iryna Dvoskina.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I obviously still want to improve as an athlete, I won&rsquo;t be stopping here. Not achieving a world record here isn&rsquo;t a failure, that&rsquo;s why sport is exciting. You can&rsquo;t perform like that everyday but I still want to do better.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;The reason I am here today though is my coach, she is a star at preparing athletes for Championships and that has been proven considering the last month for us has included me having viral meningitis.&ldquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Tim Sullivan (Vic), who has won ten Paralympic gold medals in his illustrious career, also started in the T38 200m final, crossing 7th in a time of 24.38.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Adding silver medals to the Australian tally were Cole and McCracken in the T46 arm amputee 100m and the T34 wheelchair 100m respectively.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The second fastest qualifier coming into today&rsquo;s final, Cole at these IPC Athletics World Championships has for the first time arrived at a major event fully fit after battling hamstring issues at both the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the London&nbsp;2012 Paralympic Games.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Enjoying the opportunity to run unhindered rather than hoping that his body will hold up, the 21-year-old surged out of lane four and was in the mix for gold from start to finish. Narrowly edged out on the line by Michal Darus (POL, first, 10.93), Cole crossed second in 10.96 ahead of Yohansson Nascimento (BRA, third, 10.99).&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Bringing home some silverware was the goal of this event, I haven&rsquo;t had that for some time now, and to go home with something to show is a monster result,&rdquo; Cole said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;My hamstring has given me that much trouble in the past, I have been to the last two majors available injured and it was a weird sensation coming here knowing that I was OK and my body was ready to go. I had the opportunity to shut my brain off here, ignore what could go wrong, and just let my legs do the work.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;The bar for me now is to stay under 11 seconds. This time is awesome but if I can get down to 10.7 or something like that it would be pretty extraordinary.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Born with a partially formed left arm, Cole now shifts his focus to the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Anniversary Games this weekend, where he will be joined, like he was today, on the start line by his Australian teammate Simon Patmore (Qld). Patmore crossed 7th (11.19) in the T46 100m here in Lyon, and together with Cole has aspirations of lowering their times in front of the big crowd in London.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just pumped to get back there. It&rsquo;s going to be another amazing experience and hopefully Simon and I can drop something that impresses all the people there,&rdquo; Cole added.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
McCracken&rsquo;s silver medal winning performance in the T34 wheelchair 100m for athletes with cerebral palsy adds another medal to his trophy cabinet from the IPC Athletics World Championships after he crossed second in the 200m earlier in the program.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Once again narrowly beaten on the line by Walid Ktila (TUN, first, 16.07), McCracken today stopped the clock at 16.29 to boost his confidence ahead of further competition in the 400m and 800m. Both events are new to the IPC Athletics program and the longer races are those for which McCracken has been most regularly preparing.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m over the moon, that&rsquo;s my second silver here and I did everything I could out there. I couldn&rsquo;t be happier with the performance. I have battled Walid on so many occasions now, and there are times he has come out on top and times that I have. He&rsquo;s a great racer and it is good to have him beside me,&rdquo; McCracken said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to put any pressure on myself, but the 800m is something that my coach Andrew Dawes and I have been preparing really heavily for and I would certainly like to do one better in those races. To have them available here will hopefully open up so many more options for my class in Rio, and the distance events favour my capability. My program has plenty of kilometres in it already and I think I now know the tactics for an 800m so I just have to see what the races hold for me.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Equally impressive in the men&rsquo;s T37 1500m was Australian debutant Deon Kenzie, who in a personal best time of 4:14.21 crossed for bronze behind Paralympic champion Michael McKillop (IRL, first, 4:10.17).<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Kenzie was unfazed by the occasion and led the pack through 400m in a time of 1:10.07. As McKillop pushed to the front heading into the third lap, the 17-year-old maintained his 66-second lap pace before putting his foot down in the closing stages to almost steel the silver from Abbes Saidi (TUN, second, 4:12.78) on the home straight.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t complain about a bronze medal. I was so determined to stick to my set out lap pace and not worry about what the other boys were doing. The race was pretty hot though and Michael went earlier than I thought,&rdquo; Kenzie said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;If I am going to be picky I should have tried to go a bit harder in that third lap, but I worked hard in the last to make up for it and couldn&#39;t be happier to head home a medallist. It&rsquo;s been awesome.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Colman joined Kenzie on the bronze medal winners&rsquo; list, with his time of 10:24.09 in the T54 wheelchair 5000m a season best and enough to ensure a place on the podium. Adding to the bronze medal he won in the 400m on day two of competition, the Paralympic 800m champion went with a breakaway pack mid way through the race and held on for the third spot behind Marcel Hug (SUI, first, 10:20.16) and Masyuki Higuchi (JPN, second, 10:20.95).<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;It feels good to perform well after the disappointment of not doing so well in the 800m the other day. I felt really strong and was able to cover all the attacks,&rdquo; Colman said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;When the pack split I knew that if I wanted a medal I had to go with them and I worked really hard to get on the back of it to make sure that I was in the mix. The attack that broke us all up was relatively early in the race so it was lucky to get around the other boys and go with them, but once I was there I worked for it and am glad that I was able to come away with a medal.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Australia&rsquo;s other hope in the T54 wheelchair 5000m was Nathan Arkley (SA). The London Paralympian stopped the clock at 10:31.08 to finish 5th, and together with Colman he will now prepare for the T54 wheelchair marathon to close the IPC Athletics World Championships this Sunday 28 July.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In other results from the IPC Athletics World Championships today:<br />
- Sam Carter (Qld), who was competing in his first IPC Athletics World Championships final, placed 6th in the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 200m. His time was 26.02 and he will now prepare to compete at the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Anniversary Games in the Paralympic Stadium this weekend.<br />
- Commonwealth champion Louise Ellery (ACT) finished 14th in the F31/32/52 club throw final. Competing sitting down and secured, Ellery threw the tenpin shaped implement to a best mark of 12.93m on her third attempt.<br />
- Crossing in 3:33.44, Madison de Rozario (WA) won her semi-final of the women&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 1500m and will advance to the final.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
For more information on the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, including athlete profiles and links to live results, please follow this link to the sub-site for the event at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/athletics.com.au" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81);">athletics.com.au</a>.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/ParalympicSport.TV" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81);">ParalympicSport.TV</a>&nbsp;is live streaming the Championships online. Please&nbsp;<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/ParalympicSport.TV" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81);">click here to watch</a>.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><strong>By Athletics Australia</strong></p>
2013-07-25T00:00:00+10:00736http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/736Three more silver & two bronze to Australia's tally<p>Bringing the green and gold total so far to 16 medals, it was Scott Reardon (NSW) and Angela Ballard (NSW) who won silver, as Madison de Rozario (WA) and Jayden Sawyer (ACT) earned themselves the third spot on the podium.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
The second to cross in the men&rsquo;s T42 leg amputee 200m, Reardon&rsquo;s time of 25.29 (w: -2.5) is an Oceania record and provides a tantalising taste of what to expect when he faces off with bronze medallist Heinrich Popow (GER, third, 26.02) in the 100m later this week.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Reardon enjoyed a characteristically good start to ensure his silver medal and entered the straight in front before being inevitably run down by Paralympic champion and double leg amputee Richard Whitehead (GBR, first, 24.95) in the closing stages.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;It was a good race. I got a bit of a better start than I did yesterday. I think that over the last couple of years I have struggled with the people around me but today that wasn&rsquo;t a factor and I am proud that I can just focus and go for it now,&rdquo; Reardon said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I was pretty surprised by how long I led for actually, Richard takes a while to get going and it was nice to really be in the hunt for so long before he came over me which was probably always going to happen.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Competing in the T42 class, Reardon is impressed by how far the event has come since the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch where he placed 5th in a time of approximately 28 seconds.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;The T42 class has progressed so much since the World Championships two years ago. I have lowered my own PB by more than two seconds since then and yesterday the slowest runner in the semi-final would have won a silver medal there. It&rsquo;s great to be a part of the progression, and I am a big believer in that if you want to be the best then you have to beat the best.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Reardon, who is coached by Iryna Dvoskina and lost his leg in a farming accident, will compete in the qualifying round of the 100m on Thursday 25 July, and all going to plan the final on Friday 26 July before leaving for London to compete at the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Anniversary Games.</p>
<p>Carlee Beattie (Qld) continued the silver medals for Australia, clinching the medal in the F46 long jump for arm amputees.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The Paralympic silver medallist and world record holder coming into the event, Beattie&rsquo;s best mark of 5.75m (w: -0.4) was enough to secure the second spot, as Nikol Rodamokina (RUS) soared a more than 40 centimetre personal best of 5.92m (w: -0.1) to win gold.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Beattie was impressed with her series, which included two jumps of 5.44m and three fouls, and couldn&rsquo;t be more happy to add yet another medal to a burgeoning trophy cabinet that includes medals from last year&rsquo;s Paralympic Games and the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I am pretty happy with how everything went, of course there are always a few things that you could do better, but on the whole things went well. The Russian athlete had to jump better than she ever has to beat me and she did so she is a deserved winner,&rdquo; Beattie said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Coming off London and enjoying a strong domestic season this year has been great. Now I am just looking forward to a bit of a break, then back into training in September and getting back into it. The holiday comes first though and with a silver I think it is well earned.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Coached by Gary Bourne at the Queensland Academy of Sport, Beattie is a congenital arm amputee after she was born with an arm not fully formed. She first competed for Australia at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games and has since competed heavily as part of the Australian domestic season in both able-bodied and para-athletics long jump events.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
<br />
&nbsp;Delighting the Australian contingent in the grandstand in the T53 800m were Ballard and de Rozario, with the wheelchair racing duo ensuring two green and gold tracksuits will stand on the podium as they won silver and bronze respectively.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Edged out for the gold medal by Hongzhuan Zhou (CHN, first, 1:53.65), Ballard (1:53.88) and de Rozario (1:53.93), who are both coached by Paralympic icon Louise Sauvage, were split by only 0.05 seconds as they crossed virtually in unison for the minor medals. Ballard&rsquo;s medal is her second silver of the Championship.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised that I am on the podium for an 800m, and to share it with Maddy is amazing. Of course you always want to win but if there is ever going to be someone in front of me I want it to be her,&rdquo; Ballard said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;It can get messy out there, this race wasn&rsquo;t too bad but it&rsquo;s always nice to see a good battle. I had to stop pushing for a second so as not to lose my hand in a collision but that&rsquo;s what makes this sport exciting.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;That race was interesting, I would have liked it to have played out a bit differently because it turned out we ended up almost catching the Chinese athlete which suggests that I probably could have started my sprint a little earlier to challenge for the gold but a silver medal is a fantastic result,&rdquo; de Rozario said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Ballard made her Australian debut at the Sydney&nbsp;2000 Paralympic Games and has gone on to represent the green and gold at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. She has won three gold medals at previous instalments of the IPC Athletics World Championships and she is a paraplegic as a result of a car accident at the age of seven.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Aged just 14, de Rozario made her Australian debut in the T54 100m and 4x100m relay team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. She has transverse myelitis, a neurological disease which inflames the spinal cord resulting in her using a wheelchair.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Sawyer, who on debut for the Australian Flame won bronze in the F37/38 javelin throw for athletes with cerebral palsy or an acquired brain injury, rounds out Australia&rsquo;s medal winning quartet.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Making his intentions known very early, Sawyer threw a personal best 40.53m in round one to sit in the silver medal position for the first three rounds. Continuing with 36.50m, 34.71m, 37.17, 37.88m and 38.42m, Sawyer was forced back to the third spot in round three when Dmitrijs Silovs (LAT) threw a season best of 46.45m to edge in front of him.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m obviously really happy, a personal best and a medal is a really good result. The back end of my series needs some work at championship, I started to tighten up because of my nerves but it didn&rsquo;t matter in the end,&rdquo; Sawyer said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;This motivates me so much. The team experience has been awesome, I&rsquo;ve made plenty of great friends and I hope to be able to carry it through to Rio, that&rsquo;s the plan anyway.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Nicholas Hum (Vic) also competed in a final in this session, with the two-time IPC Athletics World Championships representative soaring 6.19m (w: +1.0) to finish 8th in the men&rsquo;s T20 long jump for athletes with intellectual disabilities.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In results from semi-finals in the afternoon session on Day 4:<br />
- Evan O&rsquo;Hanlon (NSW), who won gold in the 100m yesterday, has qualified fastest for the T38 200m for athletes with cerebral palsy in a time of 22.76 (w: +0.1). Highlighting his focus, O&rsquo;Hanlon cut his hand on the blocks and competed without realising, crossing the line with a deep cut on his thumb and blood all over his uniform.<br />
- O&rsquo;Hanlon will be joined in the final by ten-time Paralympic gold medallist Tim Sullivan (Vic), who was third in his semi-final in a time of 24.35 (w: -0.7).<br />
- Winning his semi-final in a Championship record time of 16.01, Rheed McCracken (Qld) will advance to the round of eight in the T34 wheelchair 100m.<br />
- Nathan Arkley (SA) and Richard Colman (Vic) have qualified for the final of the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 5000m, after the duo stopped the clock at 10:25.87 and 10:33.36. Competing in different semi-finals, Colman qualified automatically as he placed 3rd in his semi-final, while Arkley moves through as one of the four fastest non-automatic qualifiers.<br />
- Sam Carter (Qld) has qualified as 8th fastest for the final of the men&rsquo;s T54 wheelchair 200m after he clocked 26.05 (w: -0.3) in his qualifying round. He was joined on the start line by Richard Nicholson (ACT) and Matt Cameron (Qld), who clocked 26.48 and 26.20 respectively to finish 9th and 12th overall.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
For more information on the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, including athlete profiles and links to live results, please follow this link to the sub-site for the event at<a href="http://www.athletics.com.au/home/competition/ipc13/championships_info">athletics.com.au</a>.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
ParalympicSport.TV is live streaming the Championships online. Please&nbsp;<a href="http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/%20ParalympicSport.TV">click here to watch</a>.</p>
2013-07-24T14:21:33+10:00509http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/509Skis like the wind<p>The trio compete in the men&rsquo;s standing class, arguably the most competitive in Paralympic alpine skiing, and when just 0.48 seconds separated the three medallists in the slalom race at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup final, it was yet another example of how one false move can lead to defeat.<br />
<br />
To gain an edge on competitors, Australian coaches and sport scientists are now using wind tunnel testing in order to find that extra tenth of a second that holds the winning potential.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;When all the basics of athlete preparation and skill development have been covered, in very competitive classes these small improvements can mean the difference between a bronze and gold medal or being on the podium at all,&rdquo; said APC Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager, Alison Campbell.<br />
<br />
Wind tunnel testing measures the flow and movement of air around a skier which can influence speed and direction and ultimately, results. Together with the Australian Institute of Sport and Monash University, Kane, Rahles-Rahbula and Gourley were all put to the test as a powerful fan moved air past them while they maintained their racing position.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;In alpine skiing speed events, athletes hold a static position or a tuck but in more technical events, athletes are changing position and regularly making turns to get around gates. If athletes can assume the most aerodynamic position possible in their tuck, they can reduce drag and move down the hill faster,&rdquo; said Campbell.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Equipment and clothing can also contribute significantly to drag so when equipment is custom made, such as outriggers, we need to ensure it is used as aerodynamically as possible.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
Armed with important data on their most aerodynamic position, athletes will now practice throughout the Australian domestic season before returning to the wind tunnel later this year for further pre-Games refinement.<br />
<br />
The Australian Paralympic winter team will next compete at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Thredbo, NSW from 2-6 September.</p>
2013-05-15T00:00:00+10:00319http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/319Hartung made Officer of the Order of Australia <p>Australian Paralympic Committee President Mr Greg Hartung has been made a prestigious Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) at an official investiture ceremony at Canberra&rsquo;s Government House today.</p>
<p>Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce invested Mr Hartung with the award, which recognises his outstanding contribution to Australian sport over the past 32 years.</p>
<p>Mr Hartung, who has served as President of the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) since 1997, accepted the honour in front of his family and a number of dignitaries including the Minister for Sport, Senator Kate Lundy.</p>
<p>With more than 15 years at the helm of the Australian Paralympic movement, Mr Hartung has overseen the APC&rsquo;s transformation from a small and struggling organisation to its modern day position as a leader in disability sport.</p>
<p>Under his leadership, the APC has prepared successful Australian teams for eight Paralympic Games, established successful national programs in classification and talent identification, introduced a national Paralympic Education Program, and initiated programs to increase the representation of female athletes and athletes with higher levels of disability on the Australian Paralympic team.</p>
<p>Mr Hartung has also successfully lobbied for a more equitable level of federal sports funding for athletes with a disability and helped to deliver his vision of an organisation at the leading edge of Australian sport.</p>
<p>Vice President of the APC, Nick Dean said:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Greg has been a visionary leader and one of the hardest workers I&rsquo;ve known. When he joined the APC Board following the Atlanta Paralympics, the Paralympic movement and the APC were relatively unknown in Australia. Under his leadership we have seen the movement grow and the APC become a leading, national sporting organisation.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Greg has a passion for Paralympic sport and an obvious delight in the wonderful performances of our athletes and I congratulate him on this outstanding honour and achievement.&rdquo;</p>
<p>His appointment as Officer of the Order of Australia comes after his Order of Australia Medal (2002), Centenary Medal (2001) and Australian Sports Medal (2000).</p>
<p>His intricate knowledge of the Australian sport system stems from his involvement with the Australian Sports Commission where he served as Chair (2008-2010), Commissioner (1991-1996, 2005-2010) and inaugural General Manager (1984-88). He also held senior roles as President of the Confederation of Australian Sport, Chair of the Australian Sports Foundation, Deputy Chair of the Australian Coaching Council and Vice President of the Sydney Paralympic Games Organising Committee.</p>
<p>His knowledge, ability and experience has been extremely sought after internationally.</p>
<p>After becoming a Governing Board Member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2001, Mr Hartung was elected to his current role of IPC Vice President in 2009.</p>
<p>He has also held positions on several International Olympic Committee (IOC) Commissions including the Coordination Commission for the 2016 Games in Rio (2010-2012), the IOC Evaluation Commission for 2016 (2008-2009), the IOC Press Commission (2011-2012) and the IOC Radio and Television Commission (2005-2012).</p>
<p>APC Chief Executive Jason Hellwig said:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Greg&rsquo;s contribution to Australian sport is unparalleled, and the success and growth of Paralympic sport in Australia that we enjoy today, is a product of his vision and tireless work over the years.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I extend my sincere congratulations to Greg on receiving this great honour and for his achievements as an administrator in shaping Australian sporting landscape.&rdquo;</p>
2013-04-18T17:00:00+10:00315http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/315Australian Team shaken but safe in Boston <p>Australian wheelchair competitors and coaching staff have been accounted for following the twin bombings at the Boston Marathon early this morning Australian time.</p>
<p>The Australian Paralympic Committee has been in contact with members of the group, who confirmed they are all currently safe inside their hotel, which is in police lockdown.</p>
<p>Four time Paralympian Kurt Fearnley said the group, including 18-year-old South Australian Nathan Arkley, Newcastle racer Christie Dawes and her husband and wheelchair track and road coach Andrew Dawes, were shaken by the event but were okay.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Seems to be all ok. Pretty terrible situation,&rdquo; Fearnley said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The whole area&#39;s on lockdown. My hotel&#39;s on the finish line, about 100 metres past the finish line, there&#39;s troopers everywhere, there&#39;s coppers everywhere.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Australian Paralympic Committee passes on its condolences to the people affected by the tragedy in Boston. Our thoughts and best wishes are with them.</p>
<p>Earlier today, Fearnley, Arkley and Christie Dawes competed in the world famous Boston Marathon, where Fearnley finished fifth, Arkley 17th and Dawes finished fifth in the women&rsquo;s division.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That was tough. I did everything I could to stay with the pack early on and then back myself through the middle section when it starts heading up again,&rdquo; Fearnley said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I managed to catch a few of the guys through about 30km and thought I might get a few more in the last 10km but it&rsquo;s tough out here on your own and I couldn&rsquo;t reel the last few guys in,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>The Aussie trio will decide whether to contest next week&rsquo;s London Marathon.</p>
2013-04-16T17:00:00+10:00316http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/316Reardon finds form ahead of World Champs<p>Australia&rsquo;s leading Para-athletes have set their sights on the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon after several outstanding performances at the weekend&rsquo;s Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney.</p>
<p>Paralympic silver medallist Scott Reardon was among a host of athletes who impressed National selectors during the domestic season, and continued his outstanding form by equalling the world record for the T42 100m on Saturday on his way to securing the national title.</p>
<p>Just weeks after the 22-year-old became the fastest ever single above knee amputee over 200m at the Queensland Track Classic, Reardon showed his speed across the shorter distance, crossing the line in 12.14 seconds to match Canada&rsquo;s Earle Connor, who set the mark 11 years ago.</p>
<p>The run would have won Reardon the gold medal in London, where he ran almost half a second slower than on the weekend, and is a huge confidence boost for the boy from Temora, NSW ahead of his second IPC Athletics World Championship appearance this July.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Scotty&rsquo;s race was an absolute highlight from the meet,&rdquo; said Athletics Australia Paralympic Preparation Program Manager, Andrew Faichney.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s in incredible condition at the right time ahead of Worlds in July.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Reardon was among several Para-athletes who posted blistering times to meet Athletics Australia&rsquo;s tough qualifying standard for the World Championships.</p>
<p>London Paralympians Gabriel Cole and Simon Patmore will be hoping for selection, having run their fastest times this season in the T46 100m. Cole broke the 11 second barrier in 10.92 and Patmore came close with a time of 11.02. Newcomer from Western Australia, Chad Perris also impressed with a time of 11.30 in the T13 vision impaired class.</p>
<p>Sprint king Evan O&rsquo;Hanlon posted an A-qualifying time in the T38 400m as the 24-year-old looks for challenges beyond the 100m and 200m. O&rsquo;Hanlon crossed the line in 49.84 seconds and is hoping to compete in all three events in London while 15-year-old Rheed McCracken posted A-qualifying times in the T34 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m to potentially make him one of the busiest Australian athletes in Lyon.</p>
<p>Paralympic silver and bronze medallist Katherine Proudfoot threw consistently well in the shot put and discus, posting A-qualifying distances in both events while London bronze medallist Madeleine Hogan threw a PB of 40.29m before suffering a nasty fall on her fourth attempt that forced her withdrawal.</p>
<p>Andrew Faichney says the team that Athletics Australia will select for the IPC World Championships will have more top four athletes than the team in London, due to many athletes increasing their training load following the Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The significance of London was that we saw an increase in standards across the board. Our athletes have taken on that challenge and we&rsquo;ve now got more A qualifiers than we did in London,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We will probably take a slightly smaller team to Lyon than we did in London. Many of our athletes have moved into the top four in the world and we&rsquo;re hoping that they can repeat or better their performances in Lyon.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Athletics Australia will announce the next group of athletes selected to the World Championship team in the coming week, with Paralympic medallists O&rsquo;Hanlon, Kelly Cartwright, Richard Colman, Todd Hodgetts and Kurt Fearnley earning automatic selection following the London Games.</p>
<p>The IPC World Athletics Championships will be held in Lyon, France from19-28 July and will be the first major summer Paralympic sporting competition since London.</p>
2013-04-16T17:00:00+10:00317http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/317World record holder at 14 - Maddison Elliott <p>Teenage swimmer Maddison Elliott has broken the S8 50m freestyle world record at the 2013 Georgina Hope Swimmers Foundation Australian Age Multi Class Championships at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide.</p>
<p>The 14-year-old, who surprised everyone to win a gold, silver and two bronze at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, dropped seconds off her previous personal best to break the record and win her second Australian Multi Class Age Champion title for 2013, after she won the 400m freestyle event the day before.</p>
<p>Elliott set the new international sprint standard when she hit the wall in a time of 30.69, eclipsing the previous record of 30.85 and taking the gold ahead of SLC Aquadot swimmer Amy Cook in an impressive 31.17 and SOPAC swimmer Lakeish Patterson in (32.18).</p>
<p>She went on to win four more gold in the girls 11-14 years100m backstroke and the 100m butterfly, as well as the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke.</p>
<p>It is the first time events for swimmers with a disability have been included at the Australian Age Championships with the goal to nurture developing swimmers from the club level through to national representation.</p>
<p>Elliott wasn&rsquo;t the only teenager who appeared to benefit from the competition, with Rowan Crothers winning gold in the boys 15-16 years 50m freestyle in a time of 27.04, the 100m freestyle, the 50m butterfly and the 100m butterfly, where he finished exactly one second in front of silver medallist Timothy Disken in a time of 1:10.42. He also won silver in the 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke, and bronze in the 50m breaststroke.</p>
<p>Elliott, Crothers and a number of other budding junior athletes will next join Australia&rsquo;s most prolific Paralympic gold medallist Matthew Cowdrey and eight-time London gold medallist Jacqueline Freney next week at the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.</p>
<p>The event doubles as a selection qualifier for the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada which will take place this August and will be the first major swimming meet since the London Paralympic Games.</p>
2013-04-16T17:00:00+10:00313http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/313APC backs Athletics Australia’s call for equivalent funding<p>As part of its ongoing partnership, the Australian Paralympic Committee has backed Athletics Australia&rsquo;s push to provide equivalent support to athletes within both its able-bodied and disability programs.</p>
<p>The newly proposed funding structure would mean the best performing Para-athletes, including reigning Paralympic champions Evan O&rsquo;Hanlon and Kelly Cartwright, would receive the same level of financial support as Sally Pearson, Mitchell Watt and other able-bodied stars contracted by Athletics Australia.<br />
<br />
Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) Chief Executive Jason Hellwig said the move proposed by Athletics Australia is another important step towards equality.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The APC has lobbied extensively to ensure National Federations view their Paralympic programs on the same level as their Olympic counterparts in terms of funding and operational support,&rdquo; Hellwig said.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased to say we have seen some real progress in recent years.<br />
<br />
&quot;The model we have put in place with our National Federations provides them with support to do their jobs, as well as added value through the APC&rsquo;s programs in areas including talent search, classification, education and development. These partnerships help ensure there is maximum value for every dollar spent.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;It has always been a key goal of the APC to secure for Para-athletes the same opportunities and support as their able-bodied peers.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
Athletics Australia Chief Executive Dallas O&rsquo;Brien said: &ldquo;We have been working with the APC for some time now towards ensuring our high performance program for both able-bodied athletes and athletes with a disability is fully integrated.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Part of that integration is the aspiration to have standard funding support for contracted athletes regardless of whether they are Para-athletes or able bodied competitors.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
O&rsquo;Brien said the implementation of the new funding structure was largely dependent on its recent funding submission to the Australian Sports Commission, which has been supported by the APC.<br />
<br />
With the IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon later this year, and the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games on the horizon, Hellwig said the APC would be doing everything it could to assist the athletics program build on the success it achieved at last year&rsquo;s Paralympics in London.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Athletics is our biggest Paralympic sport and historically plays one of the biggest roles in the overall success of Australian Teams at the Paralympic Games,&rdquo; Hellwig said.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;If we are to succeed at future Paralympic Games, our athletics team must continue to improve which is no easy task. This is why we place such importance on our relationship with Athletics Australia.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
At last year&rsquo;s London Games, 20 of the 43 athletes who represented Australia in athletics were identified by the APC&rsquo;s Talent Search program, while more than 230 emerging track and field athletes have been classified to a national level since the beginning of 2012.<br />
<br />
O&rsquo;Brien said AA&rsquo;s partnership with the APC continues to strengthen.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Athletics Australia enjoys an incredibly strong ongoing partnership with the APC and we&#39;re proud of the high levels of co-operation and co-ordination we have with them,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Brien said.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;We value their support just as they value ours and together we are focused on ensuring that all athletes, able-bodied or disabled, are treated equitably.&quot;<br />
<br />
The APC provides $1,362,500 to Athletics Australia&rsquo;s Paralympic Preparation Program annually, and $200,000 to the AIS Paralympic Athletics Program.But with Australia&rsquo;s rivals outspending it significantly, both Hellwig and O&rsquo;Brien agree that every effort needs to be made to hold off the emerging challengers.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;We know that several countries are targeting us,&rdquo; Hellwig said.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Great Britain is pouring millions of pounds more than us into their Paralympic program every year, the Brazillian Paralympic Committee has just announced an additional $50 million in annual funding until Rio 2016, and Russia has confirmed that it is building a new $100 million training facility for its Paralympic athletes.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;These are just three of the nations who have made no secret of their desire to see us slide down the medal tally, and if we do not work smartly, that is exactly what will happen.&rdquo;</p>
2013-04-10T17:00:00+10:00314http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/314Women’s National Wheelchair Team, the Gliders <p>Basketball Australia has today opened up recruitment for Head Coach of Australia&rsquo;s medal-winning Women&rsquo;s National Wheelchair Team, the Gliders &ndash; putting a full-time role on the table for the first time ever.</p>
<p>The Gliders&rsquo; Head Coach will also be based at the team&rsquo;s new home: Basketball Australia&#39;s National Wheelchair Centre of Excellence at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) in Homebush, Sydney.</p>
<p>Basketball Australia Chief Executive Kristina Keneally said the Head Coach would play an integral role as the Gliders &ndash; currently ranked second in the world &ndash; target gold at both the 2014 IWBF Championships and the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Gliders are undoubtedly one of Australia&rsquo;s most successful Paralympic teams, boasting four Paralympic medals and three World Championship medals,&rdquo; said Ms Keneally.</p>
<p>&ldquo;One of the foundation sports on the program in Rome in 1960, wheelchair basketball continues to be one of the most popular sports at the Paralympics.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our Rollers and Gliders are renowned as trailblazers with our Paralympic programs, and Basketball Australia intends to continue that tradition.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As we&rsquo;ve done with the Opals, the Gliders Head Coach position has evolved from part-time to full-time with a permanent base &ndash; giving the Gliders the resources they need to aim for gold.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Head Coach will oversee the four-year program designed to see the Gliders deliver at major benchmark events as part of the Australian Sports Commission&rsquo;s &lsquo;Winning Edge&rsquo; 2012-2022 strategy.</p>
<p>The position will include setting the team&rsquo;s program &ndash; in consultation with Basketball Australia&rsquo;s High Performance management &ndash; encompassing the strategic direction of player development, program delivery, coaching, technical and scientific advances, resource development and competition.</p>
<p>The Board of Basketball Australia has appointed a selection panel, which will include:</p>
<p>&bull; Men&rsquo;s National Wheelchair Team Coach Ben Ettridge;<br />
&bull; Michael Hartung from Australian Paralympic Committee; and<br />
&bull; Former Opals Coach Jan Stirling, who has acted in a mentoring role to the Gliders coaching staff from 2010-2012.</p>
<p>The selection panel will chaired by Basketball Australia&rsquo;s General Manager of High Performance and National Teams, Steven Icke.</p>
<p><a href="http://basketball.net.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Employment_ads/130410_Gliders_Coach_Finals.pdf">Click here</a> to read more about the Gliders Head Coach Position.</p>
<p>Applications for the position close on Friday 26th April, 2013. Applications should be sent to:</p>
<p>Basketball Australia CEO Kristina Keneally<br />
PO Box 7141, Alexandria NSW 2015</p>
<p>Or by email: <a href="mailto:ceo@basketball.net.au">ceo@basketball.net.au</a></p>
2013-04-10T17:00:00+10:00312http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/312Horrie headed to World Champs<p>Paralympic silver medallist Erik Horrie is the first Para-athlete selected to represent Australia at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in South Korea this August.</p>
<p>Rowing Australia today named Horrie alongside dual Olympic medallist Kim Crow as the first athletes confirmed for the Australian team, ahead of the national team selection trials at the Sydney International Regatta Centre from 21 April to 3 May, 2013.</p>
<p>Rowing Australia High Performance Director Chris O&rsquo;Brien says the early selection of the pair follows on from their outstanding domestic season so far.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Erik is unchallenged in his boat class and has convinced us with strong domestic performances this year. Both (Horrie and Crow) are pursuing medal<br />
performances on the world stage in individual boat classes and the aim of an early selection is to allow them to focus on their preparation to achieve their best performance,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Brien.</p>
<p>At his first Paralympic Games in London, Horrie won silver in the men&rsquo;s arms and shoulders single scull amid a tumultuous week that saw him admitted to hospital and then become a father for the third time.</p>
<p>Having taken some time to spend with his growing family post-London, the 33-year-old has now returned to full time training and has his eyes firmly set on the World Championships.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very motivated after last year&rsquo;s success and it will be interesting to see everyone race again at the World Champs. We will all have come up another level. I&rsquo;m confident given my current performances and the work I will be able to put in before August, but you cannot take anything for granted,&rdquo; said Horrie.</p>
<p>The remaining members of the World Championships team will be selected following the upcoming selection trials in Sydney.</p>
2013-04-08T17:00:00+10:00302http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/302Paracanoe on the road to Rio<p>The future of one of Australia&rsquo;s newest Paralympic sports, Paracanoe, is looking bright after a record field of athletes took to the water on day one of the National Sprint Championships in Perth.</p>
<p>Eighteen Paracanoeists lined up for their first national competition, with Penrith Valley paddler Colin Sieders the highlight, winning his first national title in the men&rsquo;s MK1 1000m arms-only final.</p>
<p>Sieders crossed the line in 5:46.06, 18.95 seconds ahead of Victorian Gary Connor, with Varsity Lakes paddler Paul Bailey finishing third.</p>
<p>It is the first victory for Sieders in Paracanoe, having taken up the sport after a career racing V8 Supercars where he became the first driver on the circuit with a permanent disability.</p>
<p>Seasoned West Australian Paracanoeist Brock Ingram won the men&rsquo;s MK1 1000m LTA (legs, trunk and arms) final, beating Varsity Lakes paddler Peter Nipperess by 6.25 seconds, with former Paralympic track and field athlete Don Elgin in third position.</p>
<p>Former volleyballer Glenn Pyne, who represented Australia in sitting volleyball at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, won the men&rsquo;s MK1 1000m TA (trunk and arms) final, 16.58 seconds ahead of his fellow Varsity Lakes paddler Andrew Stiles.</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s events, former Paralympic swimmer Amanda Drennan won the first ever LTA (legs, trunk and arms) national title with victory ahead of West Lakes paddler Melissa Bussenschutt in the K1 500 open multiclass final. Drennan crossed the line in 2:54.13, 6.07 seconds ahead of Bussenschutt and 10.41 seconds ahead of Kara Kennedy in third place.</p>
<p>River Armenti took victory in the women&rsquo;s K1 1000m multi class final, finishing in 5:59.54, ahead of Yasemin Ray in second and Nicole Stillman in third.</p>
<p>Australian Paracanoeists will next compete at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Germany this August.</p>
2013-04-05T17:00:00+11:00266http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/266World best time for Reardon<p>Australian Paralympian Scott Reardon has set his sights on the biggest prize of all after becoming the world&rsquo;s fastest man on one leg at the Queensland Track Classic last weekend.</p>
<p>Competing in the 200m, the 22-year-old crossed the line in 25.45 seconds to become the fastest single above knee amputee ever over the distance.</p>
<p>Reardon, who trains at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) with Paralympic track coach Iryna Dvoskina, ran over half a second quicker than at the London Paralympic Games, where he finished fourth.</p>
<p>The new time would have won him a Paralympic silver medal in the T42 class, having soared past America&rsquo;s silver medallist Shaquille Vance and Germany&rsquo;s bronze medallist Heinrich Popow&rsquo;s Paralympic times, but would still have him placed behind Great Britain&rsquo;s gold medallist and double above knee amputee, Richard Whitehead.</p>
<p>Gold in Rio is now Reardon&rsquo;s goal as he pushes towards cementing himself among Australia&rsquo;s most exciting Paralympic sprinting prospects.</p>
<p>Already a part of that club is five-time Paralympic gold medallist Evan O&rsquo;Hanlon who also showed that his peak Paralympic form continues.</p>
<p>O&rsquo;Hanlon crossed the line in 21.97, his second fastest time ever over 200m and his fastest time ever on Australian soil, although the sizzling run fell short of the 21.82 he ran in London to claim the gold medal and lower his own world record.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, former AIS athlete Michael Roeger set a new Australian record in the T46 1500m, after a disastrous Games campaign where the 24-year-old fell ill just days before his race.</p>
<p>Having since recovered after he was hospitalised in London with a ruptured spleen, Roeger showed what he is capable of with a full bill of health by crossing the line in 3:58.16.</p>
<p>Australia&rsquo;s Para athletics athletes are currently training for the Australian Athletics Championships to be held in Sydney from 11-14 April. The national competition will be the main qualifying event for IPC Athletics World Championships to be held in France this July.</p>
2013-03-27T17:00:00+11:00248http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/248Paralympics promises second wind for wounded soldier<p>Two years ago, Private Nathan Whittington&rsquo;s life changed forever when he fell off the back of a jet ski while waterskiing in Townsville.</p>
<p>As he fell, the 18-year-old&rsquo;s foot became tangled in the jet ski&rsquo;s tow rope and, just 10 months into his career with the Australian Army, Whittington lost his right foot.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The tow rope pulled my foot off but I had it amputated higher so I could be more mobile. I was told having the amputation higher would make it easier for me to walk on a prosthetic,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Now 20, Whittington is training as a sprinter at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and has recently made his Australian debut, thanks to the help of the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC).</p>
<p>In 2010 the APC and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) established the ADF Paralympic Sport Program, which uses sport as a form of rehabilitation for soldiers who are permanently injured during their service.</p>
<p>Through the program, Whittington was introduced to a coach, fitted with a prosthetic leg and was running, just six months after his accident.</p>
<p>Having trained at the AIS under AIS Scholarship Coach Brett Robinson ever since, Whittington recently set a new personal best of 13.09 in the 100m sprint to win gold at the Wounded Warrior Games &ndash; a USA-run international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and ill service personnel.</p>
<p>Now he says his drive to compete at the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016 has never been greater.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The highlight of my trip was standing on the podium with the Australian flag wrapped around my shoulders receiving my gold medal. It&rsquo;s made me so hungry to succeed in the sport and to represent my country at a much bigger stage,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Coach Brett Robinson says the progress Whittington has made so soon after acquiring his disability is astounding.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I met Nathan I probably wouldn&rsquo;t have described him as an athlete,&rdquo; said Robinson.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He was a bit out of shape but a nice kid who was willing to give running a crack, not really fully understanding what giving it a crack actually meant.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now he has changed so much mentally, physically and in his ability as an athlete. He&rsquo;s just got that attitude that he wants to always do better.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Rio is the target and anything in between is a bonus. He&rsquo;s got more confidence since the Wounded Warrior Games. He&rsquo;s training hard, we&rsquo;ve got his prosthetic leg set up right and now, things are starting to fall into place.&rdquo;</p>
<p>APC Chief Executive Jason Hellwig says Whittington&rsquo;s success is testament to the value of the ADF Paralympic Sport Program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Paralympic movement was founded on the very idea that sport could be used as a form of rehabilitation,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The program is a great way of giving wounded, injured and ill Defence members something to focus on during their rehabilitation and if they show talent and an interest in pursuing the sport, the APC connects them with a coach and the services they need to train.&rdquo;</p>
<p>For Whittington, his involvement in the program is simple.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I lost my foot, one door may have closed but so many more have opened up. I can&rsquo;t thank the ADF and the APC enough &ndash; this whole journey has been amazing,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sport has helped so much with my rehab and now I&rsquo;m focused on the World Champs in July and Rio.&rdquo;</p>
2013-03-25T17:00:00+11:00249http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/249First Australian Paralympic medals go on display<p>The achievements of Australia&rsquo;s first Paralympic gold medallist, Ross Sutton, and Australia&rsquo;s first female Paralympian, Daphne Hilton (n&eacute;e Ceeney), have been recognised at the National Sports Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.</p>
<p>The National Sports Museum has updated its Paralympic display after receiving a generous loan from the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) of historic medals and memorabilia from the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960.</p>
<p>The updated showcase comprises the arrows Ross Sutton used in the men&rsquo;s paraplegic archery event, Australia&rsquo;s inaugural Paralympic gold medal secured by Ross, and three of the six medals won by Daphne Hilton (n&eacute;e Ceeney), at the Games where she was the only female in the Australian team of 12 athletes. It also features the blazer pocket of wheelchair basketball player Kevin Coombs, Australia&rsquo;s first indigenous Paralympian, who also competed at the Rome Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re honoured to accept this collection of treasured items from the Australian Paralympic Committee,&rdquo; said National Sport Museum Manager, Jed Smith.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Ross and Daphne are remarkable athletes who have both made significant contributions to the Australian Paralympic movement and we&rsquo;re absolutely delighted to celebrate their achievements. We consider these objects to be amongst the &lsquo;Crown Jewels&rsquo; of Australian Paralympic history and are privileged to be able to display them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Jason Hellwig, Chief Executive of the Australian Paralympic Committee, says the APC is committed to preserving the proud history of the Australian Paralympic movement and that the National Sports Museum was the perfect place to do just that.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The achievements of Ross, Daphne and all of our first Paralympians are historically significant to Australia, not only because they won our first Paralympic gold medals but also because their achievements marked a turning point and positive move forward for people with a disability in this country,&rdquo; said Mr Hellwig.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great thing that their medals are now displayed in Australia&rsquo;s greatest showcase of sport at the museum. On behalf of the athletes and their families, the APC is delighted we can now share these pieces of history with Australia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Ross Sutton attended his first Games just two years after a light plane crash left him paralysed. The 23-year-old from Armidale in New South Wales took up archery shortly after the accident and on day two of the Games became Australia&rsquo;s first ever gold medallist when he won the men&rsquo;s open archery competition. Ross passed away in 2000, just before the Sydney Olympics.</p>
<p>In an era when athletes were expected to be versatile and play more than one sport, Daphne Hilton (n&eacute;e Ceeney), won her medals in five different Paralympic sports &ndash; archery, athletics, fencing, swimming and table tennis.</p>
<p>At 26-years-old, Daphne won six medals across three sports at the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. She went on to compete at the next two Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and Tel Aviv in 1968, before retiring with 14 career Paralympic medals &ndash; three gold, five silver and six bronze. Daphne, now 78, lives in Canberra with her husband Frank &ndash; a former champion archer.</p>
<p>Members of the Hilton and Sutton families are planning visits to the National Sports Museum in the coming weeks to see the new Paralympics display.</p>
<p><em>Photo: Australia&#39;s first Paralympic gold medallists Ross Sutton and Daphne Hilton (nee Ceeney)</em></p>
2013-03-25T17:00:00+11:00245http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/245Scott: proof of the power of sport<p>West Australian Paralympic silver medallist Brad Scott wants to give back to the movement that changed his life.</p>
<p>The 24-year-old middle distance sprinter, who won a silver and bronze medal in the 1500m and 800m at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, has turned his attention to coaching young athletes with a disability while continuing to train for the upcoming IPC Athletics World Championships in France this July.</p>
<p>Since moving back to Western Australia from Canberra late last year, Scott has been working with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) to help young athletes identified through the APC&rsquo;s Talent Search Program develop the basic skills they need to pursue a sport.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to give these kids a base to work off and an understanding of what it means to be a Paralympic athlete &ndash; not just at a high performance level but to give them the building blocks and confidence in themselves they need to pursue what they love,&rdquo; said Scott.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re running regular training sessions twice a week where we structure an individual training plan for each kid depending on their needs. It involves running, core strength and understanding the body and what it can do.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Born with cerebral palsy which affects the ride side of his body, Scott was working as an apprentice roof carpenter before he was spotted at an APC Talent Search Day in 2006.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My way of life has always been sport &ndash; I wanted to play cricket, football, basketball. It was my way of being normal,&rdquo; said Scott.</p>
<p>Now, he wants to give back to the sport that has meant so much to him while giving other people with a disability the same chance to excel in sport as he had.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sport has helped me in everyday life. It&rsquo;s helped me understand my disability more but at the same time, not use it as an excuse. Instead it&rsquo;s taught me to accept it, focus on my ability and use it positively both physically and mentally,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>WA Development Manager Greg Omay says that Scott&rsquo;s work in skill development and athletics coaching complements the boccia and goalball programs currently running in Western Australia.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve developed four training hubs for boccia in Western Australia where people with more severe disabilities can try the sport and develop their skills with the help of Boccia WA,&rdquo; said Omay.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve also got regular goalball training sessions every Saturday with the help of Goalball WA, which are open to the public to come and try, and we&rsquo;re about to launch similar opportunities with table tennis.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The APC will next be running a Talent Search day in WA on 20 April 2013 from 9:30am &ndash; 12:30pm at the WA Athletics Stadium in Mt Claremont.</p>
<p>For more information on the APC Talent Search Program or if you would like to get involved in Paralympic sport in Western Australia, please get in touch with Greg Omay at <a href="mailto:greg.omay@paralympic.org.au">greg.omay@paralympic.org.au</a></p>
2013-03-22T17:00:00+11:00246http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/246NDIS Bill praised by the APC <p>The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) has welcomed news that the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill has been passed through Federal Parliament.</p>
<p>APC President Greg Hartung said the passing of the Bill yesterday was a momentous step towards improving the lives of Australians who are living with a disability.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The APC congratulates the Australian Government, particularly Minister Jenny Macklin and Senator Jan McLucas, on the passage of this legislation,&rdquo; Mr Hartung said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As a strong supporter of the National Disability Insurance Scheme ever since the concept was first proposed, the APC hopes and expects that the Scheme will now bring with it a strong new era of support for people with a disability and their carers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Stage one of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will launch across five states in July this year, with 26,000 people with a disability, their families and carers to be the first to benefit.</p>
<p>The NDIS will roll out in full across New South Wales by July 2018, while the other state and territory governments continue to work with the Federal Government to finalise their timelines.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now that the Bill has successfully passed, the challenge of implementing the NDIS begins in earnest and must remain a high priority,&rdquo; Mr Hartung said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The APC has always been committed to improving the lives of Australians living with a disability through sport, because we have seen the many benefits sport can bring.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We believe every person living with a disability should have the opportunity to participate in sport at the level of their choice, and we hope that reaching this objective will be made easier through the introduction of the NDIS.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The APC is very much looking forward to seeing the full extent of the Scheme&rsquo;s coverage and we will continue to do whatever we can to help the Government ensure the Scheme is a success.&rdquo;</p>
2013-03-22T17:00:00+11:00198http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/198What a difference a day makes for Gourley<p>A superb silver medal winning performance by Mitchell Gourley in the men&rsquo;s Slalom today has given Australia its first podium finish at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup finals in Sochi, Russia.</p>
<p>After his frightening high speed crash in yesterday&rsquo;s Downhill race, 21-year-old Gourley said he was just relieved and happy to be skiing today, let alone able to push for a World Cup medal.</p>
<p>The arm-amputee certainly showed plenty of toughness to bounce back. He posted the fourth fastest time in this morning&rsquo;s first run, before outshining the world class field with the best time in the second run to jump onto the silver medal position on the podium.</p>
<p>Still bruised and battered from his heavy fall 24 hours earlier, Gourley was delighted to have broken through for a World Cup medal at the venue for next year&rsquo;s Winter Paralympic Games.</p>
<p>Russian Alexey Bugaev (1:34.40) claimed the Slalom crown on his home course, while Gourley (1:34.87) just edged out Frenchman Vincent Gauthier-Manuel (1:34.97) for the silver medal.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great feeling. After my cracker of a crash yesterday, I was pretty beaten up before this race,&rdquo; Gourley said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But I was able to get it together and fight all the way down there. Conditions weren&rsquo;t great and we knew it wasn&rsquo;t going to be a day for pure textbook skiing. I&rsquo;m just happy that I was able to deal with the conditions better than most of the other guys today.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been on the World Cup podium for a while now and to overcome a string of fourth places and crashes and finally put one together is a really good feeling. It&rsquo;s a massive confidence booster.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Gourley&rsquo;s Australian team-mates also showed signs of brilliance throughout the day, but just couldn&rsquo;t put it all together.</p>
<p>Cameron Rahles-Rahbula finished 11th (1:57.00), but was highly impressive in the second run when he clocked the fourth fastest time despite starting later in the session when the conditions were far less favourable. And Toby Kane missed a gate nearing the end of his first run which brought his strong showing to that point to a disappointing end.</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s vision-impaired class, Melissa Perrine overcame her sluggish opening run with sighted guide Andy Bor to finish fourth overall (2:01.22), just under three tenths of a second off the bronze medal won by Great Britain&rsquo;s Jade Etherington and guide John Clark (2:01.49).</p>
<p>Still, Australian Paralympic Alpine skiing coach Steve Graham saw plenty of encouraging signs from all of his athletes ahead of the Sochi Paralympic Games beginning in less than 12 months time.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was a Slalom hill that we thought we suit us, and as it turned out, it did,&rdquo; Graham said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;A medal was really needed. The whole team has worked really hard and when you don&rsquo;t get a return for it, it&rsquo;s tough.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But there were good things for everyone to take away today.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Cameron finished fourth in the second run despite starting at the back of the pack so that was really good, Toby would have been right there in the first run but three gates from the end, his ski got caught and he was unfortunate, and Mel&rsquo;s second run was definitely better than her first run, although she is still a little bit behind where she needs to be.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But all the guys will be really happy about today and excited for what is coming up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup, which doubles as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Test Event, concludes tomorrow with the Super-Combined.</p>
2013-03-11T17:00:00+11:00197http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/197Sunny day no picnic for skiers in Sochi<p>With next year&rsquo;s Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi now less than one year away, Australia&rsquo;s Paralympic alpine skiers arrived in the Russian city this week hoping to gain experience that will put them in good stead.</p>
<p>Well, they gained some of that experience in spades during the Downhill event on day one of the 2013 IPC World Cup finals today.</p>
<p>In unusually warm temperatures which wreaked havoc with the snow conditions in parts of the course, bravery and pluck were in abundance as competitors from 15 countries across the standing, sitting and vision-impaired categories put themselves at the mercy of the Rosa Khutor mountain.</p>
<p>And among some spectacular crashes, near misses and stunning performances, Australia&rsquo;s athletes were in the thick of it.</p>
<p>Mitch Gourley led the way when he finished sixth in the men&rsquo;s standing Downhill in a time of 1:25.26, just ahead of two-time Paralympic medallist Cameron Rahles-Rahbula (1.25.58) in eighth position. Their team-mate Toby Kane rebounded from a heavy fall to finish in 17th (1.44.88).</p>
<p>France&#39;s Vincent Gauthier-Manuel mastered the precarious conditions to take gold in 1:22.84. Russia&#39;s 15-year-old Alexey Bugaev won silver in 1:23.09 and world champion Markus Salcher of Austria picked up bronze in 1:23.26.</p>
<p>Having watched his squad compete on next year&rsquo;s Paralympic Games course for the first time today, Australian Paralympic alpine skiing coach Steve Graham said he was relatively happy with what he saw.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Mitch and Cam were both quick in the first section. It was in the middle section after the jump where they both lost some speed,&rdquo; Graham said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But if they can come back in tomorrow&rsquo;s Downhill and improve in that section, they can push for a podium.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Kane will also be looking for a chance to redeem himself tomorrow in what will be the last Downhill race of the Northern Hemisphere season.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was disappointed when Toby crashed today because he was skiing better than he had done in practice. He&rsquo;ll make a few changes tomorrow and I think he will be competitive,&rdquo; Graham said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He just struggled to get his ski around on the turn before the jump so he was doing more going over the jump then he should have been.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Instead of relaxing over the jump, he was still making the turn so that created a bit of pressure on the ski which made him fly a little bit further which is what made his landing harder.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The fourth Australian in action on day one, Melissa Perrine, did not complete the course to post a time in this morning&rsquo;s training session, and withdrew from the race line-up later in the day.</p>
<p>The 2013 IPC World Cup Final which doubles as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Test Event in Sochi, Russia continues until March 12.</p>
2013-03-09T17:00:00+11:00196http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/196APC appoints first female Chef de Mission<p>The Australian Paralympic Team will be led by a woman for the first time ever at the Sochi Winter Paralympic Games, which commence in Russia in 365 days time.</p>
<p>The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) has today announced the appointment of Kate McLoughlin as Chef de Mission of the 2014 Australian Team, which hopes to win Australia&rsquo;s first gold medal at a Winter Games since 2002.</p>
<p>McLoughlin is the APC&rsquo;s Sport Operations Senior Manager and was Deputy Chef de Mission during the London 2012 Paralympic campaign, where she helped oversee the successful Australian team more than 300-strong.</p>
<p>It is the first time an Australian woman has held the position of Chef de Mission, which McLoughlin believes is an important and timely step forward for Australian sport.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m immensely proud to be the first woman to hold the role of Chef de Mission for a Paralympic Team. Australian sport has traditionally seen more men in leadership positions and it&rsquo;s good to see the tide is continuing to turn,&rdquo; said McLoughlin.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To lead an Australian Team at a Paralympic Games is a great honour and I look forward to supporting these amazing Australian athletes compete at this event, the pinnacle of Winter Paralympic sport.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As the team gathers in Sochi for the Paralympic test event beginning later today, McLoughlin says Australia boasts some of the best Paralympic alpine skiers in the world and will be extremely competitive when the Games begin.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Members of our current squad have won a total of four Paralympic bronze medals, and one gold, two silver and four bronze medals from the most recent IPC World Cup series in Europe,&rdquo; she said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The team we take to Sochi is about quality. Every athlete has the potential to win a medal and we would love to improve on our performance in Vancouver four years ago, where we won one silver and three bronze medals.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been over a decade since we won gold, and we would dearly love to end that drought.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have a tough challenge in front of us. The level of competition around the world has increased significantly since Vancouver but we believe we&rsquo;ve put the best support around our athletes to give them a fighting chance at finishing on the podium.&rdquo;</p>
<p>APC President Greg Hartung says McLoughlin&rsquo;s appointment is a significant one.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Leading an Australian Paralympic Team is a privilege and a great responsibility. Kate&rsquo;s exceptional management and leadership skills mean she is the best person for this job,&rdquo; said Mr Hartung.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And to have a woman lead an Australian Paralympic Team for the first time is historically poignant and something of which I am hugely proud.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Australia has participated at every Paralympic Winter Games since the first in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden in 1976 and finished 13th on the medal tally at the last Games in Vancouver 2010.</p>
<p>The Australian Paralympic alpine skiing squad will compete at the IPC World Cup finals this week, which doubles as the Paralympic test event and counts towards qualification.</p>
<p>Youngster Mitchell Gourley, who won gold in the giant slalom earlier in the season, will compete alongside Paralympic bronze medallists Cameron Rahles-Rahbula and Toby Kane, while Vancouver Paralympian Melissa Perrine will line up in the women&rsquo;s vision impaired races with her sighted guide Andy Bor.</p>
<p>Trent Milton will also compete in the Para-snowboard test event, as he hopes to become Australia&rsquo;s first snowboarder at a Paralympic Games when the discipline makes its debut next year.</p>
2013-03-07T17:00:00+11:00187http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/187Blair headlines under 23 Rollers squad<p>Basketball Australia today announced the U23&rsquo;s Men&rsquo;s Wheelchair Basketball training squad that will assemble in Canberra next week to begin their campaign toward the 2013 U23&rsquo;s World Championships in Turkey this September.</p>
<p>The squad of 17 &ndash; selected from the Australian Development Camp held at the AIS in Canberra in January &ndash; will assemble in the nation&rsquo;s capital for a training camp from March 6-10.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of the camp, a team will be selected to compete in the Qualification Tournament for the Asia Oceania Zone in June in Thailand, to be ratified by the Board of Basketball Australia.</p>
<p>Basketball Australia Chief Executive Officer Kristina Keneally said next week&rsquo;s camp was a great opportunity for Australia&rsquo;s future Rollers to make their mark on men&rsquo;s wheelchair basketball.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The players attending next week&rsquo;s training camp are the current cream of a solid High Performance Program that Basketball Australia has provided as a pipeline to the Australian Men&rsquo;s senior team,&rdquo; Ms Keneally said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To be selected into a World Championship training squad is something they should be immensely proud of and we wish them all the best as they begin their preparations for an important year ahead.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Head coach Tom Kyle said that while all of the players selected have taken part in various camps and tournaments for the past two to three years, the aim of this camp was to start the countdown to selecting the 12 players Australia will take to the World Championships in September.</p>
<p>&ldquo;At this stage, we haven&rsquo;t decided if we will take a full squad of 12 to the qualifiers in Thailand in June, but the aim next week is to take a look at the combinations,&rdquo; Coach Kyle said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In wheelchair basketball, unlike able bodied basketball, we have points limitations, which means we have to look at what we can put on the floor at any one time.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The point of this camp is to finalise our preferred combinations and then to select those players who best match the combinations we come up, with who we believe will put us in a position to ultimately secure a medal at the World Championships.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A marquee member of the squad is 2012 Paralympian Jannik Blair. A starting member of the Australian Rollers Men&rsquo;s senior team, Blair won a silver medal in London and will be returning for his second U23&rsquo;s campaign after his debut at the World Championships in Paris in 2009 &ndash; where Australia finished fourth.</p>
<p>Australia&rsquo;s current world ranking is fourth in U23&rsquo;s Men&rsquo;s Wheelchair Basketball.</p>
<p>The 2013 IWBF Men&rsquo;s Under 23&rsquo;s World Championships will be held from 12-22 September in Adana, Turkey.</p>
<p>The U23&rsquo;s squad has five representatives from NSW, four from Queensland, three from Western Australia, two from Victoria and one representative from Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory.</p>
<p><strong>The U23&rsquo;s Men&rsquo;s Wheelchair Basketball Training Squad is:</strong></p>
<p>Michael Auprince - Peakhurst, NSW<br />
Jordan Bartley - Cleveland, Qld<br />
Jannik Blair - Horsham, Vic<br />
Marcus Chiavelli - Yarrambat, Vic<br />
Steven Elliott - Gympie, Qld<br />
Bradley Fisher - Kingston, Tas<br />
Jake Fulwood - Mooloolah, Qld<br />
Clarence Groga - Greenwich, NSW<br />
Kayl Jeffery - Stratton, WA<br />
Jake Kavanagh - Ballajura, WA<br />
Tim Mackrow - Sutton, ACT<br />
Joshua Meoli - Mortdale, NSW<br />
Ryan Morich - Manning, WA<br />
Bailey Rowland - Brookwater, Qld<br />
Keegan Oh-Chee - Eastwood, NSW<br />
Tom O&rsquo;Neill-Thorne - Darwin, NT<br />
Luke Pople - Dapto, NSW</p>
<p><strong>Staff:</strong><br />
Tom Kyle, Head Coach &ndash; Holland Park, Qld<br />
David Gould, Assistant Coach &ndash; Surrey Downs, SA<br />
Sonia Healy, Assistant Coach &ndash; Corrimal East, NSW<br />
Donna Ironmonger, Team Manager &ndash; Woodvale, WA<br />
Ryan Campbell, Team Physio &ndash; Joondanna, WA</p>
<p><strong>By Basketball Australia</strong></p>
2013-02-28T17:00:00+11:00166http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/166Gourley scrapes top ten finish<p>Despite a disappointing start to the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championship campaign for Australia&rsquo;s Mitchell Gourley, his luck is now beginning to turn, with the Victorian recording a top 10 finish on the weekend.</p>
<p>After slalom racing was postponed due to howling wind and snow on Saturday, Gourley regrouped for racing on Sunday in calmer conditions.</p>
<p>A slow first run with mistakes saw him outside the top 10 in 14th position, but with nothing to lose, the 21-year-old threw himself down the mountain to finish eighth on the leader board with a combined time of 2:09.66.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to lose when you&rsquo;ve piked first run so I just tried to have fun and go as hard as I could,&rdquo; said Gourley.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This morning was a real struggle for me and was pretty upsetting, particularly seeing the way the guys in the lead skied. I definitely would&rsquo;ve liked to have been right in there.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The second run wasn&rsquo;t the best, it&rsquo;s not going to win any awards, it&rsquo;s going to pale in significance in the history of results but it made me feel good. I feel better about my skiing and hopefully I can carry that into my two best events in the next two days.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Australian Paralympic Alpine Skiing Head Coach Steve Graham said he is disappointed with the course setters after two slow downhill and super G courses and a difficult slalom course.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Conditions were good from a snow point of view but course sets were interesting,&rdquo; said Graham.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It took out a lot of people, more than two thirds of the field didn&rsquo;t finish so that says it all. It was icy but it was grippy and the course setters didn&rsquo;t really do anyone any favours.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It rewarded people who were avoiding mistakes and taking it easy, which isn&rsquo;t really racing.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Graham says that with only the technical events left on the competition program, Gourley&rsquo;s slalom run will hold him in good stead in the super combined and giant slalom still to come.</p>
<p><strong>Gourley&rsquo;s 2013 World Championship program in La Molina, Spain...</strong></p>
<p>Thurs Feb 21: <strong>Downhill</strong> (13th)<br />
Fri Feb 22: <strong>Super G</strong> (11th)<br />
Sat Feb 23: <strong>Slalom</strong> (8th)<br />
Mon Feb 25: <strong>Super-Combined</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Tues Feb 26: <strong>Giant Slalom</strong> (6:30pm AEST)</p>
2013-02-25T17:00:00+11:00165http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/165Flat course hinders Gourley on day two of World Championships<p>Another tough course has hindered Australia&rsquo;s Mitchell Gourley on day two of the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in La Molina, Spain.</p>
<p>A day after a flat start in the downhill saw the light-weight Victorian struggle to gain speed against his heavier competitors, Gourley re-lived the experience in the super G, in which the start remained flat and slow, despite course setters removing 30 seconds of flat and uphill ground from yesterday&rsquo;s course.</p>
<p>Gourley finished 11th in 1:16.90, four and a half seconds behind the winner, Markus Salcher of Austria. Fellow Austrian Matthias Lanzinger finished second, with Swiss Michael Bruegger finishing in third place.</p>
<p>Gourley was disappointed to again finish outside the top 10.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Another rough day to be a small guy,&rdquo; said Gourley.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They did lower the start a bit but it didn&rsquo;t seem to help me too much. It was similar to yesterday &ndash; a long way out at the top and pretty fast at the bottom,&rdquo; said the 21-year-old.</p>
<p>&ldquo;World champs only comes round once every two years and to see events that you think you can medal in not even give you a chance to jump in the top 10, it sucks a bit,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>However Australian Paralympic Alpine Skiing Head Coach Steve Graham has warned that Gourley need not worry about his slow start to competition, with the course also hindering other competitors in the LW 6/8 class, Vincent Gauthier-Manuel of France (who finished fourth) and Alexey Bugaev of Russia (who finished sixth).</p>
<p>&ldquo;The slalom race is on Saturday and then the next race after that is the super combined, of which I am setting the first run &ndash; the SG part. I want to help Mitch be more competitive in the SG so he can hopefully let his slalom skills put him in contention for the medals,&rdquo; said Graham.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The good news is the rest of the schedule will be held on much steeper hills and the courses at Sochi (where the final IPC World Cup event will be held in March) are also very challenging.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Competition continues tomorrow with the slalom, in which Gourley has won two silver medals during the 2013 IPC World Cup series.</p>
<p><strong>Gourley&rsquo;s 2013 World Championship program in La Molina, Spain...</strong><br />
Thurs Feb 21: <strong>Downhill</strong> (13th)<br />
Fri Feb 22: <strong>Super G</strong> (11th)<br />
Sat Feb 23: <strong>Slalom</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Mon Feb 25: <strong>Super-Combined</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Tues Feb 26: <strong>Giant Slalom</strong> (6:30pm AEST)</p>
2013-02-22T17:00:00+11:00164http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/164Slow start for Gourley at La Molina<p><span style="line-height: 1.5;">It wasn&rsquo;t the dream start Australian alpine skier Mitchell Gourley had hoped for on day one of the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, but then again, the downhill is not his dream race.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5;">The only competing Australian finished 13th in a time of 1:36.40, almost six seconds behind the winner, Markus Salcher of Austria, while Switzerland&rsquo;s Michael Bruegger finished second and Austrian Matthias Lanzinger third.</span></p>
<p>Weighing in at just 58kg, Gourley found himself too light to propel himself down the slope at La Molina, Spain, where a long flat start benefits heavier athletes in the downhill discipline.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The conditions definitely don&rsquo;t suit him. It&rsquo;s a very flat 45 seconds at the top and being only 58kg makes life very tough in a downhill, when you&rsquo;re up against guys who are 80-90kg,&rdquo; said Australian Paralympic Alpine Skiing Head Coach, Steve Graham.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think if he does his best in the technical events then he can get on the podium,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>And Gourley is thinking in a similar way, setting himself the goal of winning the giant slalom world title on Tuesday.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The GS has always been my strongest event and I set out at the start of the year to try and win the GS world championship and the GS overall world cup globe,&rdquo; said Gourley.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I have aspirations to win other globes in other disciplines here as well but to be honest, even if it doesn&rsquo;t come off, that will all be forgiven if I can win the GS which is my bread and butter.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Gourley won his first world cup title in the giant slalom on the same Spanish slope 12 months ago and is confident he can ski well in the more technical races later in the week.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I won my first world cup on this hill 12 months ago and have trained here a bit back in 2009. I&rsquo;ve got some good memories here and I really like the tech hill,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Competition will resume on Friday with the Super G, in which Gourley won gold at the NORAM Cup last December.</p>
<p><strong>Gourley&rsquo;s 2013 World Championship program in La Molina, Spain...</strong><br />
Thurs Feb 21: <strong>Downhill</strong> (13th)<br />
Fri Feb 22: <strong>Super G</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Sat Feb 23: <strong>Slalom</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Mon Feb 25: <strong>Super-Combined</strong> (6:30pm AEST)<br />
Tues Feb 26: <strong>Giant Slalom</strong> (6:30pm AEST)</p>
2013-02-21T00:00:00+11:00117http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/117Paralympic X factor a win with consumers<p>According to research conducted by Woolcott Research after the London Paralympic Games, 74 per cent of people say they now see the APC&rsquo;s sponsors in a more positive light, with 57 per cent believing they are more likely to consider buying their product or service, due to their support of the Paralympic movement.</p>
<p>The positive figures come as the APC embarks on a major drive to secure sponsorship for the next four years leading into the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games and the Rio Paralympics in 2016.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve seen from this research is that Australians are more interested and engaged in the Paralympics than ever before,&rdquo; said APC Chief Executive, Jason Hellwig.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;People feel a connection to the athletes, which was reflected in the research that found 87 per cent found them to be inspirational. They want to share in their success.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The Woolcott research also revealed that 50 per cent of Australians believe there was ample media coverage of the Games, while the other 50 per cent want to see more.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
More than half tuned into ABC TV&rsquo;s coverage of the Games, which was the most extensive ever in Australia. Hellwig said swimming was unsurprisingly named the most popular sport with audiences.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I think we can see a clear correlation here between audience numbers and medals won. The swim team in London were unstoppable and won 18 gold medals,&rdquo; he said.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;But overall, the growth of the Paralympics continues unabated. Almost half of the people surveyed said their interest in the Paralympic Games had increased since Beijing, which is staggering. What we&rsquo;ve found through this research and anecdotally, is that more and more Australians want to see more and more Paralympic sport.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Obtaining corporate sponsorship is key to our ability to send teams to the Paralympic Games in the best possible condition; bring more Paralympic sport to Australia and continue to build on the momentum created from London.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
And growth in public interest looks set to continue with three out of four Australians finding the Games entertaining while 91 per cent believing Paralympians are powerful role models.</p>
2013-02-18T00:00:00+11:00118http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/118Gliders are Osaka Cup champions<p>Fielding a new look team, the Gliders began the tournament on Thursday with a win over Canada 60-55 in a match that saw all 12 players hit the floor.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
They backed up on Friday with a win over host nation Japan 50-43 with once again all players taking to the floor and representing Australia with pride.<br />
<br />
The third and final day of the event saw the girls take back to back wins defeating Canada 59-46 and Japan 54-48.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
The successful tour was capped off when captain Shelley Chaplin was awarded tournament MVP.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
Since 2007, the Gliders have won the Osaka Cup five times in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 while they have been runners-up in 2007 and 2011.<br />
<br />
It was the first international tournament for the Australian women&#39;s wheelchair basketball team, since their silver medal winning performance at the London Paralympic Games.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
It was a new look for the women&#39;s national team, featuring five players on debut combined with six Gliders with nine Paralympic appearances between them. Only Shelley Chaplin, Leanne Del Toso, Amber Merritt and Sarah Vinci remained from the silver medal winning side.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Reigning Osaka Cup champions:</strong><br />
<br />
4 - Sarah Vinci (1.0) - WA&nbsp;<br />
5 - Melanie Domaschenz (1.0) - Vic&nbsp;<br />
6 - Ella Sabljak (1.0) - Vic<br />
7 - Natalie Alexander (2.5) - WA<br />
8 - Caitlin de Wit (3.0) - NSW<br />
9 - Leanne Del Toso (3.5) - Vic<br />
10 - Georgia Inglis (2.5) - WA<br />
11 - Natalie Hodges (2.0) - Qld<br />
12 - Shelley Chaplin (3.5) - Vic<br />
13 - Kathleen O&rsquo;Kelly-Kennedy (4.0) - Vic<br />
14 &ndash; Shelley Cronau (3.0) - Qld&nbsp;<br />
15 - Amber Merritt (4.5) - WA<br />
&nbsp;</p>
2013-02-18T00:00:00+11:00122http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/122A statement from the APC<p>Like many people around the world, we are shocked by the news of the alleged shooting incident involving South African Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius.</p>
<p>With a police investigation currently underway, and a case due before court shortly, it is inappropriate for the APC to make any comment until the process has formally concluded.</p>
2013-02-17T00:00:00+11:00119http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/119Coach calls for lifters to step up<p>Two-time Paralympian Abebe Fekadu will headline the competition, which boasts 10 of the next crop of powerlifters hoping to one day compete at the Paralympic Games.</p>
<p>Fekadu currently sits atop the leader board, having moved seven points clear of his nearest competitor Nang Nguyen, thanks to a 162kg lift in the most recent round of the Grand Prix held late last year.<br />
<br />
With the retirement of Paralympic dual silver medallist Darren &lsquo;Bear&rsquo; Gardiner following the London Games, Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) powerlifting coaching staff say there is now an opening for someone to step into the big man&rsquo;s shoes.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Darren was an impressive lifter and was very successful internationally over his entire career. His departure has definitely been felt amongst the squad,&rdquo; said APC Senior Coach Powerlifting, Strength and Conditioning, Scott Upston.<br />
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&ldquo;The Grand Prix is about giving the up-coming athletes more opportunities to compete at an elite level and from this, we&rsquo;re hoping to see some step up and show they are ready for international competition.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
Australian representatives Cameron Whittington and Dave Williams are two athletes looking to improve their ranking, currently sitting in third and fourth place on the leader board respectively.<br />
<br />
The national powerlifting Grand Prix circuit is an APC initiative to increase domestic competition in the sport. With only two athletes securing qualification and competing at the London Games, the APC identified the need to increase the number of domestic competitions available to athletes in order to build their strength and skills before competing internationally.<br />
<br />
Competition begins at 12pm tomorrow and will be held at the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association Gymnasium at Bowen Hills.</p>
<p><strong>Competitors:</strong></p>
<p>Abebe Fekadu - QLD<br />
Dave Williams - QLD<br />
Leigh Skinner - QLD<br />
Cameron Whittington - NSW<br />
Kenny Erb - QLD<br />
Nang Nguyen - WA<br />
Ben Wright - WA<br />
Jessica Grey - VIC<br />
Paul Tesoriero - VIC<br />
Greg Moffat - QLD<br />
Charles Taylor - QLD</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
2013-02-15T00:00:00+11:00120http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/120Pine to bring expertise to new Paralympic appointment<p>With almost seven years at Swimming Australia under his belt, Pine, who worked as the Sport Development Manager, the General Manager in Community Sport and most recently the General Manager of Strategic Relations, will now be responsible for leading the highly successful Paralympic program.</p>
<p>The triple Olympian, and four time Commonwealth Games representative will also bring personal experience and an inside knowledge of professional swimming to the role to ensure Australia maintains its position as one of the world&rsquo;s best nations in Paralympic swimming.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;I feel this role is a perfect fit for me with my years of experience in high performance swimming as an athlete, and my grassroots experience managing the Community Sport and inclusive swimming programs. I will aim to pass on my attitude to excellence and take a holistic approach to improve all areas and aspects of Paralympic swimming,&rdquo; Pine said.<br />
<br />
Australian Paralympic Committee Chief Executive Officer, Jason Hellwig commended Swimming Australia&rsquo;s Choice and said he was looking forward to the Paralympic success continuing under Adam&rsquo;s leadership.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;As a former athlete who has reached the pinnacle of his sport, Adam understands the everyday pressures experienced by athletes juggling training with study and work, and with years of experience in developing community swimming programs, he also has a strong administrative background.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
By working closely with the Swimming Australia staff, the APC, key stakeholders, coaches and swimmers, Pine will play a key role in setting and managing the strategy for the development of Australia&rsquo;s Paralympic swimmers.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;I see some challenges ahead, but that being said, I have already had some positive discussions with the APC and will work closely with them and the diverse stakeholders of coaches, swimmers and other agencies to face these challenges head on,&rdquo; Pine said.<br />
<br />
With swimming being one of Australia&rsquo;s highest profile Paralympic and Olympic sports, Hellwig said the management of the swimming program would be crucial to the whole sporting community.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Australian Paralympic swimming is critical to the success of the wider Australian Paralympic Team which is one of the reasons why Adam&rsquo;s role is so important,&rdquo; Hellwig said.<br />
<br />
Following on from the success in London, where the Australian swim team came away with 18 gold medals, Pine said it would be important to build momentum and improve on the great results from 2012.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;I understand the importance of continuing our success and look forward to the challenges and new responsibility this role will bring,&rdquo; Pine said.<br />
<br />
Fast approaching on Pine&rsquo;s agenda is the first major gathering of international Paralympic swimmers since London, at the 2013 Montreal IPC World Swimming Championships.</p>
2013-02-12T00:00:00+11:00121http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/121First five named in athletics World Champs team<p>The first five athletes in a team that will hopefully improve on the 27 medals won at the 2012 Paralympic Games, today&rsquo;s announcement is the first of three to be made by Athletics Australia Selectors in the coming months.</p>
<p>Dion Russell, Athletics Australia Chairman of Selectors, said the athletes were worthy inclusions.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Russell said: &ldquo;Congratulations to this outstanding group of athletes, it must be very reassuring to know that your performance at the London 2012 Paralympic Games has all but ensured your selection to compete at the World Championships later this year.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;Four of these athletes won gold medals at the Paralympic Games to ensure their selection, and in Kurt&rsquo;s case, his bronze medal in the marathon earned him automatic selection.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
O&rsquo;Hanlon&rsquo;s performance at the Paralympic Games was arguably the most impressive, and earned him the title of 2012 Male Athlete with a Disability of the Year from Athletics Australia.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The favourite in the men&rsquo;s T38 100m and 200m for athletes with cerebral palsy coming into competition, the 24-year-old was unchallenged as he lowered the world record in both events to win double gold.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Coached by Iryna Dvoskina, O&rsquo;Hanlon&rsquo;s Paralympic performance followed a four-medal haul at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch (NZL), with his event schedule once again set to feature the sprint double alongside the 400m.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
O&rsquo;Hanlon said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve decided to add the 400m to my schedule for World Championships because I am really keen to challenge myself in a new event. I&rsquo;ve been lucky to enjoy the success I have in the short sprints and I now want to push the limits on something new.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be honest and say that I&rsquo;m not loving the new training at this stage, but with hard work it will get a bit easier and hopefully I will reap the rewards. My training squad and I have actually been in Narabeen these past few weeks training on the sand to strengthen my legs and that should translate into some good results when we head back to Canberra on Wednesday.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Cartwight was a dual gold medallist at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and at the 2012 Paralympic Games she won a gold medal in the T42/44 long jump for leg amputees before returning to the track for silver in the 100m.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Crowned the 2012 Female Athlete with a Disability of the Year by Athletics Australia, the 23-year-old, who is coached by Tim Matthews, was a finalist for 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year and looks forward to challenging the world&rsquo;s best.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Cartwright said: &ldquo;I had surgery on my ankle when I came home from London, and to have my selection pretty much wrapped up because of my performance at the Games is very reassuring as I continue to recover the best I can.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;The World Championships are the biggest event on the calendar this year, and with that in mind I want to make sure that I perform well in France. I had great success in Christchurch two years ago and to replicate that again in 2013 would be a fantastic result.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
A Paralympic debutant in 2012, Hodgetts arrived in London after throwing a shot put world record for athletes with intellectual disabilities at the 2012 Australian Athletics Championships.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Improving that record twice in the thrower&rsquo;s circle of the main stadium, Hodgetts heaved an impressive 16.29m to be crowned Paralympic champion.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Colman and Fearnley boast two of the most impressive international resumes in Australian athletics.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Colman is a seven-time Paralympic medallist (including two gold) a two-time IPC world champion, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist and a gold medallist from an exhibition T53 800m at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu (KOR).<br />
&nbsp;<br />
The winner of nine medals, including three gold, across three appearances at the Paralympic Games, Fearnley has won six world titles at the IPC Athletics World Championships and also taken line honours, plus an additional ten podium finishes, from the 43 marathon races he has looked to conquer.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Athletics Australia Selectors will also make announcements on this team after the conclusion of the 2013 Australian Athletics Championships, and following its Final Selectors Meeting to be held on 3 June.</p>
<p><strong><em>Please note that in accordance with the provisions of sections 9.1 and 9.6 (a) of the IPC Athletics World Championships Selection Policy, athletes identified for selection above are still required to complete and submit the online Application for Consideration for selection and attain an Athletics Australia &lsquo;B&rsquo; Qualifying Performance prior to 27 May 2013.</em></strong></p>
2013-02-12T00:00:00+11:0076http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/76Boccia headed to Australian shores<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 12.05pt;">To be delivered in partnership with the newly created Boccia International Sports Federation and Boccia Australia, it will be the first international boccia event staged in Australia since the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12pt 0cm; line-height: 12.05pt; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">The announcement is an exciting boost for boccia in Australia, which has experienced a greater focus on improving the development pathway for players and coaches since the APC Boccia program was revamped following the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.<br />
<br />
In the four years since, an injection in funding by the APC has helped increase participation numbers by 1000% nationally, and assisted the growth of programs in each state and territory. Through this success in growing participation rates, the APC believes boccia is now poised to return to the Australian Paralympic Team.<span class="apple-converted-space" style="">&nbsp;</span><br />
<br />
There are now 18 senior and junior athletes in boccia&rsquo;s Paralympic Preparation Program (PPP), with many vying for national selection to compete at October&rsquo;s regional championships.<span class="apple-converted-space" style="">&nbsp;</span><br />
<br />
APC Chief Executive, Jason Hellwig said: &ldquo;Boccia has a unique and important place in Paralympic sport because it is aimed at athletes with a high level of disability.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The APC is committed to providing opportunities for people of all abilities to play sport. We know that sport improves an individual&rsquo;s health and that it also improves the social wellbeing of an individual with a disability, particularly those with a more significant level of disability.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The work undertaken with the boccia program has showcased the breadth of the work the APC does from a development level right through to the high performance level.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;We hope that the profile of boccia in Australia will increase as a result of the championships and that new players are attracted to the sport. It&rsquo;s been too long since we&rsquo;ve seen an Australian boccia athlete at the Paralympic Games.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
The championships will see the top Asian nations come to Sydney, with 12 countries expected to compete in total.<span class="apple-converted-space" style="">&nbsp;</span><br />
<br />
APC Pathways Development Coordinator Paul van Oosten, who has helped drive the development of the sport in recent years, says Australia&rsquo;s athletes will get the best possible start to their Rio campaign.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;For many, international competition is something very new. It is a massive coup to have the regional championships on home soil as our athletes have the advantage of limited travel, in a sport where extensive travel can be difficult to manage,&rdquo; van Oosten said.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Our players will be exposed to the world&rsquo;s top players from Asia, which will serve as an excellent benchmark to measure themselves against. It&rsquo;s a great mark of the hard work the APC has put in to developing the sport.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
Boccia was introduced to the Paralympic Games in 1992 and is designed to test muscle control and accuracy as players throw, kick or use a chute device to propel a leather ball as close as possible to a small white ball, which serves as a jack. It is open to athletes with a physical impairment that affects both their arms and legs such as cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury, spinal damage or muscular dystrophy.<br />
<br />
The Asia Oceania Boccia Championships will take place at Sydney Olympic Park from 18-26 October, 2013.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
2013-02-06T00:00:00+11:0047http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/47APC Boss presents Governor-General with London 2012 memento<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Her Excellency is the Patron of the APC and travelled to London with Mr Michael Bryce to throw their full support behind the 2012 Australian Paralympic Team.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">&ldquo;The Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce, was very generous in her support for the Team, travelling from venue to venue and adding her voice to the Australian supporters in the stands as they cheered on our athletes,&rdquo; said Mr Hartung.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Her Excellency was present during the Australian Team&rsquo;s official welcome ceremony to the Athletes&rsquo; Village, attended the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, met many of the Australian athletes and team staff, and also visited the Australian offices and accommodation.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: 'Century Gothic', Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Mr Hartung praised the role played by government in the development of Paralympic sport, and the practical support offered by its representatives in London.</span></p>
2013-01-29T09:00:00+11:0049http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/49IPC unveils athletics Grand Prix circuit<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">In addition to recent announcements confirming the host cities of the next three World Championships through to 2017 and London&#39;s staging of the first IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup this April, IPC Athletics plans to stage six Grand Prix events this spring and summer.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">The events will start in March with a three day meeting in Dubai, UAE before heading to Beijing, China; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Grosseto Italy; Arizona, USA and Berlin, Germany.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">The aim of the Grand Prix are to provide high level international competition, while supporting local organising committees and providing pillars of excellence to support development in areas such as classification, education, research and anti-doping.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">Ed Warner, Chair of the IPC Athletics Sport Technical Committee, said: &quot;This announcement is a direct legacy of London 2012 where the sport&#39;s profile was raised to astronomical levels. Over 1.1 million tickets were sold for the Olympic Stadium whilst many global broadcasters pulled in record audiences for track and field events.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;To build on this success IPC Athletics is keen to create more high profile competition opportunities over the coming years.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;We now have World Championships in place for 2013, 2015 and 2017 and the first IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup taking place this April to coincide with the Virgin London Marathon.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;This year&#39;s Grand Prix events are very much a trial and are designed to improve standards off the track first and then provide more competition opportunities for leading athletes later.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;Should the trial be successful then we will look at how we can expand these events in 2014 and beyond.&quot;</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">World and regional Championships</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">After announcing earlier this month that Doha, Qatar will stage the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, IPC Athletics now has hosts in place for the next three World Championships through to 2017.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">This July, Lyon, France will host over 1,300 athletes from 90 countries for the 2013 event, whilst London&#39;s Olympic Stadium has been confirmed for July 2017, a month before the same venue plays host to the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">In addition IPC Athletics also confirmed today that two cities have already submitted bids to stage the 2014 European Championship following the success of last June&#39;s event in the Netherlands which attracted 500 athletes from 40 countries.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">Ed Warner added: &quot;In addition to the Grand Prix events, the success of London 2012 has enabled us to confirm all our World Championships between now and 2017. Regional competitions are also falling into place too.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;In 2014 we will have the Asian Para Games in Korea as well as a European Championships. In 2015 we have the World Championships in Doha, the Parapan American Games will take place in Canada, whilst Congo stages the All African Games.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">&quot;Athletes now have a clear pathway of major international and regional events between now and Rio 2016 and beyond. These are great developments for the sport and we expect to make further announcements during the year.&quot;</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" />
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">Full details of the IPC Athletics Grand Prix events can be found at:</span></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.paralympic.org/Athletics/Events/GrandPrix" style="color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;" title="http://www.paralympic.org/Athletics/Events/GrandPrix">http://www.paralympic.org/Athletics/Events/GrandPrix</a></p>
2013-01-29T08:00:00+11:0053http://newsboost.com/newsroom/paralympic/release/53Shot put veteran calls time<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16.046875px;">Having represented Australia 11 times at a Paralympic or World Championship level, Macdonald was a dominant figure globally in F34 shot put competitions from the late nineties, winning gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver at the 2004 Athens Games, on top of bronze at the 1998 World Championships and gold at the 2002 and 2006 World Championships.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 1em 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.046875px;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">With more than 20 years at the top of his sport, the 38-year-old believes he is leaving Paralympic sport in a better place than where he found it. He made his debut at the Paralympic Games in 1992.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The evolution to more professional and elite sport is the biggest change in Paralympic sport,&rdquo; said Macdonald.<br />
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&ldquo;The Paralympics is probably the fastest evolving on the sporting landscape in the world and Australia has been, and is, at the forefront of that, with the focus on preparation of athletes, training and building the support around them.<br />
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&ldquo;When I first started, athletes funded themselves. It wasn&rsquo;t so much about if you qualified; it was more if you could financially afford it.&rdquo;<br />
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Raised in Alice Springs, Macdonald moved to Canberra in 1994 to take up training at the Australian Institute of Sport and was one of the first athletes with a disability to be offered a full-time scholarship at the world class facility.<br />
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But perhaps Macdonald&rsquo;s biggest contribution to sport has been off the field, where he has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people with a disability through sport.<br />
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Born with cerebral palsy, Macdonald introduced sport programs for athletes with a disability throughout the Caribbean and South Pacific, was a member of the International Paralympic Committee&rsquo;s Athlete Commission, and in his current role at the Australian Sports Commission, works to educate people, raise awareness and change understandings of disability sport in Australia. He also served on the Board of the Australian Paralympic Committee from 2001-2002.<br />
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&ldquo;Hamish&rsquo;s contribution to Paralympic sport in Australia and around the world has been nothing short of remarkable,&rdquo; said Australian Paralympic Committee Chief Executive, Jason Hellwig.<br />
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&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Hamish a long time through my involvement with athletics and have seen him develop as an athlete and a person. It&rsquo;s been great to watch a kid from Alice Springs rise to the heights of international sport and then contribute in such a meaningful way.&rdquo;<br />
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Macdonald now plans to give back to the sport that has shaped his life, and has started the process of coaching, as well as juggling full time work and a baby on the way.<br />
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&ldquo;My aim is to definitely stay involved in Paralympic sport and my first opportunity to do that is as a coach. It will be a great opportunity to contribute back.&rdquo;</span></span></p>
2013-01-29T00:00:00+11:00